Number 10 has briefed yet another excuse for Starmer’s shambolic handling of the Mandelson saga. According to Patrick Maguire’s new piece in the Times, the reason he insisted he had “full confidence” in Mandelson at PMQs was because he couldn’t bring himself to do the same for Reeves months earlier. Keen to learn a lesson from the episode with his blubbering Chancellor, he pushed ahead with his full-throttled backing of Mandy…
“…This failure to respond clearly to a binary question — do you have confidence in the chancellor or not? — was interpreted by the markets as equivocation. They did not take it well.
Determined not to make that mistake again, Starmer’s PMQs team concluded, some reluctantly, that there was only one possible answer. The prime minister, still awaiting Mandelson’s replies to the Foreign Office, was yet to make a decision on his future. To offer anything but a yes would only oxygenate the speculation and derail yet another day.”
That’ll help put this story to bed. Surely?
Downing Street has abandoned hope of landing a 0% tariff deal on British steel exports to the US. Instead, they’re briefing the FT that a whopping 25% tariff for UK steel exports provides “certainty“, and it is at least better than the 50% whacked on other countries. By Guido’s maths, 25% is still quite a bit higher than the 0% still promised on the gov.uk website…
That was supposed to be a ‘landmark deal’. Not so much. Gormless officials are still spinning that they’ll somehow achieve the elusive zero percent figure at some point. Wasn’t Starmer supposed to have won over Trump with all his brilliant schmoozing and diplomacy?
Donald Trump has spoken to reporters ahead of the UK state visit. It’s all about the Royals…
He said:
“Primarily it’s to be with Prince Charles and Camilla, they’re friends of mine for a long time, long before he was king. And it’s an honor to have him as king. And you know, he’s I think he represents the country so well. I’ve watched. He’s such an elegant gentleman and he represents the country so well.”
With Mandelson sacked and Downing Street in full-blown meltdown, Starmer will be relieved to hear Trump is more interested in the pomp and circumstance than anything else…
On trade, Trump added:
“We have made a deal and it’s a great deal, I’m into helping them… they’d like to see if they could get a better deal, so we’ll talk to them.”
Time will tell…
Labour’s latest ludicrous defence of appointing Peter Mandelson is that if he was fit to be on Times Radio and BBC Newsnight, he was fit to be to be ambassador. Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said in the Commons:
“I hardly think that Lord Mandelson would have been one of the leading candidates to become chancellor of Oxford University. Um, but he was. I highly doubt that he would have been offered a job as presenter on Times Radio, but he was. When he appeared on BBC Newsnight, a programme that’s done very important work investigating the crimes of uh…”
Farcical…
Institutional investors are dumping shares in UK companies at the fastest rate in more than 20 years, according to analysis by the Bank of America. No surprise, given that ‘Phase 2’ has amounted to Downing Street in survival mode, soaring borrowing costs, and the threat of yet another tax raid on the horizon…
The bank’s September fund manager survey shows allocations to UK equities collapsing to a net 20% underweight, compared with just 2% underweight last month. That 18-point plunge marks the sharpest monthly shift away from UK shares since 2004 – and the second biggest allocation cut on record. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said:
“This is incredibly serious. Investors are selling out of Britain at the same time as wealth creators are leaving. Under Rachel Reeves, the tide is going out and leaving the economy parched of investment and skills. Our formidable strengths remain but they can’t outrun the headwinds from Labour’s policies.”
We haven’t even had the budget yet…
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Emily Thornberry told the Commons during the debate on Mandelson that he was not vetted by the Foreign Office until after his appointment as Ambassador to the US. She slammed the government for “rushing” through his appointment without asking the proper questions:
“If Lord Mandelson had appeared before the committee, he would have faced a range of questions which would have highlighted issues that needed to be considered properly and couldn’t in the rush to appoint him. We would shed light on the nature of the appointment and be able through our questions to be able to examine whether or not it was the wisest thing to do.”
Meanwhile Kemi has said there must be “serious consequences” and that “someone takes responsibility” over Mandelson’s appointment and delayed sacking. McSweeney sweating…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”