A flashback to advice provided by Simon Case on 11 November 2024 to Starmer on appointing a new ambassador in DC:
“Political Appointment – The second option would be to make a political appointment to the post (directly appointing a non Civil Servant to the post without a competition.)… If this is the route that you wish to take you should give us the name of the person you would like to appoint and we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other issues of which you should be aware before confirming your choice. A letter is then needed from the Foreign Secretary to the PUS to FCDO formalising the decision to make a political appointment.”
The government claims that the political appointment process which saw Mandelson’s appointment announced publicly is based on precedent from past governments. Here we have the sitting Cabinet Secretary advising Starmer to do the due diligence before announcing his choice. Ignored by the PM…
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”