A huge blow was delivered to Starmer’s struggling Chagos deal today in an inadvertent briefing to The Guardian newspaper. The story – which Guido understands emerged from Powell’s team – was intended to signal he would not replace Morgan McSweeney as Chief of Staff. Powell is so far the only Mandelson confidant to survive his master’s implosion, as McSweeney was forced to leave Downing Street in the wake of the Epstein scandal…
The newspaper reported: “Powell’s allies say his decision not to take forward discussions about the job – the same role he undertook under Tony Blair’s premiership from 1997 to 2007 – was largely motivated by an intention to return to the mediation consultancy that he set up in 2011, with little interest in returning to a job he has already done.” That was meant to be a throwaway line to distance Powell from Mandelson, but it’s problematic…
As Guido has revealed, Powell’s consultancy Inter Mediate (which he founded in 2011) – to which he has “an intention to return” according to The Guardian – has deep links to China. Powell held a series of meetings with Chinese front Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Grandview Institution via Inter Mediate – it is not clear what if any financial relationship developed between the two. China hugely stands to benefit from the Chagos giveaway, it is in the interests of Chinese policy…
Powell has told a confusing story about the status of Inter Mediate – on occasion the organisation has maintained it is a charity, though The Guardian story repeatedly refers to it as a consultancy. During Powell’s government service as a taxpayer-paid special adviser as National Security Adviser, he has maintained his profile on the Inter Mediate website. The organisation released a triumphant statement when he was made NSA by Starmer. Sloppy accidental briefings are exactly the kind of thing that unravels, and this stench could bring down the Chagos deal with it…
Speaking on the Labour chaos over the last few weeks, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told The Guardian:
“You call it a sh*tshow, I say it’s unforgivable…It does look to people outside that we’re more interested in ourselves and less interested in preventing chaos. […] We’ve not done enough, and this has got to be the moment of reckoning where we say not just what are we here for, but who are we here for?”