Ben
3.8K posts
🇮🇹 'The scenery, food, prices and culture beat today’s Britain, but other aspects proved too frustrating to bear' | Annabel Fenwick Elliott Find out why Annabel decided to leave Italy below 👇 telegraph.co.uk/travel/destina…
NEW Friends of sacked Foreign Office boss Olly Robbins are starting to hit back and say sacking baseless. I've been talking to ex National Cyber Security Centre boss Ciaran Martin - who is about to embark on a media round ** He says it is the job the FCDO - so it was ultimately Olly Robbins - to decide whether security clearance is granted or not. Usually the FCDO security department does it and most cases didn't reach his level, but the most senior ones (presumably Mandelson) do. ** It’s ENTIRELY up to them, working with information from his own department and UK Security Vetting. The FCDO / he does not “overturn” the decision of UKSV - he’s they only one that decides. ** He says that Robbins was +prohibited+ from sharing details of what goes into his vetting assessment. Vetting would not work if elements shared confidentially went public. He was on a duty not to relay the position of UKSV. That’s why ministers do on get told - he is under a duty not to pass on any details beyond a pass/fail recommendation. ** So Martin says: the idea that there was a “recommendation” that was the “overriden” is wrong. This is the characterisation of government. The only assessment made is that by Robbins, and he could not have passed on any additional details. ** Therefore he feels the sacking of Robbins has no basis and that Robbins is being treated badly. ** Robbins will go before the FCDO select committee, perhaps as early as next Tuesday Ciaran Martin will be on @skynews shortly
EXCL: Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to US - a Guardian investigation by @PaulLewis @Direthoughts & me theguardian.com/politics/2026/…
The breakfasts are not free. They are paid for by taxes - mostly on parents who feed their own kids. Most of these 10,000 children would have had a perfectly healthy breakfast at home without these clubs. This isn't about helping the poorest kids, it's the state taking over the basic job of parenting.
BREAKING: Viktor Orbán congratulates Péter Magyar on election victory in Hungary.
“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!” - President Donald J. Trump
The Europeans are not dealing with “a man.” They are dealing with the United States of America. The United States needed the most innocuous kind of cooperation from them. They denied the United States that cooperation. The implied argument is that their obligations within our alliance depend on whether they like the guy we chose as our president. “Sure, we’re allies…if we approve of who you elected.” Nope. We are not going to forget, and we’re not going to forgive. I’m indifferent to their excuses or their rationalizations. The United States of America needed their help and not very much help. They turned us down. That changes everything. And they aren’t going to like how it changes everything.
