Number 10 has claimed there was “no requirement” for Keir Starmer to formally interview Peter Mandelson before appointing him as ambassador to the US. The Times revealed last night that Starmer delegated the job entirely to Morgan McSweeney and Matthew Doyle. Don’t worry, the adults are back in the room…
The Downing Street spokesman told the Lobby briefing of press hacks this morning that the “full process that was in place at the time was followed“, and the PM has since “apologised to Epstein’s victims“. When asked if it might have been a good idea to at least chat to him for a second regardless of the ‘process’, the spokesman repeated the same line almost verbatim…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”