British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson called child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein his “best pal“, according to new files released by the US House Oversight Committee. In a signed photograph for a ‘birthday book’, created to celebrate the pedophile’s 50th birthday in 2003, Mandy offers his fawning tribute:
“[Mandelson] would spend many hours just waiting for [Epstein] to turn up. And often, no sooner were you getting used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone… again, leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead… But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!”
The ‘birthday book’ was (of course) put together by Ghislaine Maxwell. Mandelson’s spokesman said his connection with Epstein “has been a matter of public record for some time”. Should still make for a few awkward dinner conversations over in DC…
As nominations for Labour’s Deputy Leader officially open today, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has declared he wants a Northern woman to replace Angela Rayner. Reports suggest No. 10’s preferred candidate is Northern woman and Housing Minister Alison McGovern. Fellow northern woman Bridget Phillipson is also standing…
Streeting told Times Radio:
“I would certainly prefer the next deputy leader to be a woman. Without being disrespectful to some brilliant women in London who are standing, like Emily Thornberry, who I’ve got lots of respect for, I can well understand why lots of my colleagues are saying we should have a deputy leader from outside London to broaden perspectives.”
Meanwhile, far-left Deputy Leader hopeful Bell Ribeiro-Addy was on the Today Programme to complain about the “undemocratic” three-day nomination window, demanding that members and voters have more time for a proper post-mortem on “what they don’t like” and “what’s gone wrong” with the government. The anyone-but-Emily campaign rolls on…
Jon Sopel has not posted on Bluesky for a whopping six months. Every month it is Guido’s reluctant duty to check the profile for a pulse. And every month leads to more crushing disappointment.
Sopel announced his departure from Musk’s X in November 2024, claiming Bluesky would become his new permanent home. Half a year has now passed without a word…
His News Agents co-hosts are far more active. Lewis Goodall posted on the Blue App yesterday, and Emily Maitlis shared a few mildly interesting anti-Trump posts last month. For some reason, the News Agents‘ own offical Bluesky account still tags Jon in their posts. Guido’s not sure why they bother…
Guido’s Adam Cherry went along to Reform Conference at the weekend to chat to MPs, councillors, hacks, and members for their takes on the party’s progress, what comes next, and the defection of Nadine Dorries. Plus plenty more…
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Labour’s new Minister for Policing and Crime worked with a radical group which campaigns to “defund the police.“ What about all that weekend briefing that crime will magically come to an end because Shabana Mahmood is Home Secretary now?
On 27 October 2022 Sarah Jones, who was shuffled to policing from trade over the last weekend, arranged a meeting in Parliament with representatives from StopWatch, a “coalition” which seeks to “hold the police to account.“ This was when Jones last had the policing brief as Shadow Minister for Policing and Crime…
StopWatch campaigns to “defund the police” and “withdraw consent to policing.” Its executive director Habib Kadiri has claimed in arguments familiar to followers of American leftist politics that “by defunding the police more money could be pushed further upstream to organisation that might be able to change this person’s behaviour at any point”…
The campaign works to oppose Stop and Search powers and claims the police “actively pose a threat to [people’s] lives,” that they “terrorise marginalised and vulnerable communities in many and novel ways,” show “systematic brutality and incompetence,” and are a “racist boys club, for those who despise the working class.” The meeting with Jones is described by the group:
“On Thursday 27th October, three of our girls – Sydney (senior co-researcher), Holly (StopWatch’s policy and research officer), and Sara (senior co-researcher) – visited the Houses of Parliament for a meeting with shadow minister for policing, Sarah Jones MP, to discuss misogyny in policing, violence against women, and youth justice. Some of the discussion involved sharing early findings from our research which was warmly welcomed by Sarah Jones. Everyone in the meeting concluded that there must be reform in policing in the UK that includes having more trauma-informed training from the start of their careers. What help are the police if they lack compassion in incidents where compassion, empathy, and understanding are needed the most?”
In a 2021 trustees’ report StopWatch boasted that one of its “main achievements” was to have “developed links with Sarah Jones.“ How deep do those links run?
The campaign has close associations with prominent Labour politicians. It was launched in Parliament by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy. Katrina Ffrench, the group’s chief executive from 2018-2020, was also the chairman of the “Stop and Search Community Monitoring Framework” for Sadiq Khan’s MOPAC office. She was since elected a Labour councillor in Wandsworth…
So much for the reset reshuffle’s newfound toughness on crime. To be sorted in Phase 4 no doubt…
Newly appointed Technology Minister Kanishka Narayan has paused his ill-fated campaign to get his constituents into tech jobs. Bodes well…
Back in March, Narayan unveiled his “All Hands on Tech” initiative, promising to get the people of Vale of Glamorgan into shiny new tech roles. He even launched a companion website, KanishkaKloud, to “visualise what MPs talk about most – by collating and filtering data from every word they’ve ever said in Parliament.” Both sites have now been taken down while he waits for the Permanent Secretary to check if there’s a conflict of interest…
Narayan had a goal to bring 1,000 constituents into tech jobs by 2030. In June, the ‘jobs counter’ showed three. If is this the end of the campaign that will be a success rate of just 1.5%…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
