@DavidPBMaddox All those times Keir repeated that 'vetting had taken place', he never once thought to confirm 'I'm saying he passed this, right?' , rather than the absurd confusion of implying he'd passed just from having done it
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Stuarty77
22.9K posts
Just pointing out that I broke the story 7 months ago that Mandelson failed vetting from the security services and put it to Downing Street...so the idea that Downing Street only found out on Tuesday is complete nonsense.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
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@Matthew26320290 @steverichards14 The DV assesment presumably highlighted risky aspects in his background (amongst them Epstein), and it was a steer that would've helped Starmer had he taken it
He seems to have assumed DV was an entirely separate/distinct hurdle that could be moved aside
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@steverichards14 My view was always Madelson was a risk worth taking. In business I have taken risks that have worked and others that failed, my knowing that failure is possible. DV is more about informing how to manage risk rather than hire or not. V embarrassing for PM but not fatal
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The question of whether Starmer should have sacked Robbins is a valid and important one…but in a different order to whether he deliberately misled parliament…which would have been obviously fatal…so obvious that it didn’t make sense to assume he would have lied so brazenly.
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@D162Michele You veered from thinking Top Gun was 'good' (?) to seeing it as 'propaganda'
It is good in the sense of impressive action, Cold War ac, but has a cliche storyline
And it is propaganda, but is more influential than that - it gave us the idea of jet pilots as a glamourous elite
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@AllisonPearson It wouldn't be appropriate would it, because the BBC is not 'state TV'?
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Wow!
Imagine a British leader doing this to the BBC.
Alan Fryer 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱@alanfryermedia
This is quite something. The new Hungarian PM goes on state TV to announce the end of state TV.
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@MatthewStadlen It wasn't a mistake in those terms - coping with Donald the disruptor seemingly required the 'break glass in emergency' candidate
Sadly for them, he wasn't really available for selection
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Just a reminder that not everyone thought Mandelson’s appointment was a mistake at the time
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@ramonagusta @bbcnickrobinson I dont think he knew the details
It must be just plausible deniability
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@bbcnickrobinson So "due process", was not followed then. Starmer lied to the house.
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The case being made for the defence of @Keir_Starmer this morning appears to be that neither the Prime Minister nor any other minister knew how vetting works & no official pointed this out to them. No wonder @darrenpjones told @BBCr4today it was “quite frankly flabbergasting”.
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@bbcnickrobinson Firstly, where is these peoples sense of 'the truth'? They wouldnt have been tweeting it. They assumed it wouldnt blow up. Vetting process did its job
Second, as Starmer went round repeating 'vetting was done', it never occured to him to once say 'he actually passed, right?'
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There is a far simpler explanation for the appointment of Mandelson. The Foreign Office knew the Prime Minister wanted it to happen despite concerns raised directly with him about Epstein & business links with China and Russia so they delivered what the boss wanted.
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@DanielJHannan It's not a lie is it, if he genuinely did not know &there was no intention to mislead - though it is astonishing
You saying Johnson was 'forced out over cake' - that's a lie, because you know it's not true (it was later, by tories themselves), and you are intending to mislead
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Mandelson failed the vetting, Starmer claimed the opposite. That was a lie.
This from a PM who forced Boris Johnson out over some uneaten cake.
Has there ever been a wider gap between the standards a politician demands from everyone else and the ones he follows himself?
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@aviationarchive Err, was making an exhibition of this ungainly aircraft in their interest?
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Footage from June 1969 of a Russian Beriev B-12 Chayka amphibious flying boat making several low passes near the U.S. destroyer USS Norris with bomb bay door open, showing it has no weapons.👀
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@BulwarkOnline It is true lots of small flats don't have driers
But driers chew clothes up
I stopped using them once I realised this
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"Europe is, I would argue, particularly now, but I would argue even without Trump...a better place than the United States of America."
"You don't even have dryers... you're still using a hanging line."
Alastair Campbell and Tim Miller spar over Europe vs. the U.S.
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@afneil Why has Starmer only found this out today. He held no investigation into how Mandleson was appointed.
Teflon Starmer thought throwing McSweeney under the bus would mean absolving him.
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We now have the Government response:
Neither the PM nor 10 Downing Street nor the Cabinet Office knew the Foreign Office had decided to ignore the fact Mandelson had failed his security vetting.
Call it the ‘know-nothing’ government.
But it leaves a major question unanswered: why would the FO take it on itself to make such a huge judgement call — and not inform/consult Downing Street?
What was in it for the FO? It hadn’t even necessarily wanted Mandy, unlike Starmer and the 10 Downing Street operation.
Doesn’t add up.
Andrew Neil@afneil
BREAKING NEWS (with the potential to be massive): The Guardian reveals Peter Mandelson failed advanced security vetting before becoming US ambassador. He was initially denied developed vetting clearance in January 2025 - weeks after Keir Starmer had officially announced his appointment. Foreign Office was ‘encouraged’ to deploy a rarely-used power to override the recommendation from security officials. The Government promised total transparency on the Mandelson affair after MPs forced it to release of a batch of documents about the process. But nothing it has released reveals this startling fact. Indeed, Starmer has always insisted Mandelson was subject to 'security vetting, carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role'. Developing …
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@spagbrush @afneil Johnson wasn't removed for eating a cake, or even lying about the parties
In this case Starmer can only blame the advice he got that he must have Mandelson, but that is what happens when a PM of only modest skill has to deal with President Trump
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@afneil The truth always comes out . They can obfuscate all they like . They can lie . They can pretend . But the truth will out . A former PM was ousted for eating a cake ….
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@ClarkeMicah Some say Russia is eyeing up the baltics, some say their military is decrepit &no threat
My instinct is that if they can't win in Ukraine they arent going to get far against even 'Nato-US'
But we don't know - their 'capture of berlin' style of warfare could be really destructive
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Don't Panic! Russia is an inflated bogeyman and we're not a great power. Of course we need to defend ourselves, but sensibly and logically
Daily Mail Voices@DailyMailVoices
Britain must defend itself - but don't panic: Russia's military is decrepit, our Navy is shrinking, and we are no longer a great power. Let's spend wisely, not give in to hysteria, says Peter Hitchens.
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@TonyWard867811 I doubt that
We may need more defence spending, but the idea it will improve our overall economy is doubtful
Can't we see some of our European peers that have the same policies you dislike (you dislike them beause of dislike, not economics)
France? Germany?
What about US states?
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The IMF just ranked Britain the worst performing major economy on the planet.
Not a war torn nation.
Not a failed state.
Britain.
Twenty five years of open borders, net zero ideology, DEI over defence and spending money we do not have.
They did this to us.
Not Putin. Not Trump. Not global headwinds.
The people we elected.
Every single one of them.
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The NHS doesn’t need more money thrown at it, it just needs to be managed much better.
Who agrees?
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@Jenny_1884 Ok, but what are you basing this great insight on?
Yes I have no doubt it needs better management - which large organisation doesn't
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@SentinelTMA1 @agbdrilling Because it was designed with a high wing loading as a low altitide attack aircraft
Small wings give a smooth ride at low level
As you say though this would compromise its turn and general altitude capability
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@agbdrilling Why did they make the wings so small! at low speed it must have been a nightmare to turn
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Over 60 years ago and it still looks futuristic. Thunderbirds are go 🇬🇧🙂
Chung-Tzu@ChungTzuW
TSR 2
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@Astronomer2000L @agbdrilling Also, they eventually actually bought the Br/Eurpean Tornado which had all the same technology of TSR2, and provided yeoman service during the Cold War
Imperfect, and no 'world beater', but 'realised', unlike TSR2
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@agbdrilling A world beater. I’ve never forgiven Wilson and his Labour scumbags for cancelling this and then proposing we buy Yankee crap F111. Capable but inferior to TSR2 . Madness.
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