Officious Bystander

If this had been a Muslim attacking a White Woman. The Daily Mail, Telegraph, Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe would have tweeted about it for months. Instead there is silence as the people who spread this hate try to take no responsibility.

@FraserNelson @SteveBakerFRSA Perhaps you missed the point. Starmer's "defence" was he wasn't told about failed vetting. Robbins confirmed Starmer wasn't told and thereby reinforced Starmer's "defence." Essentially the vetting issue, the tag end of the Mandelson saga, is a non story - no "defence" needed.

Olly Robbins evidence did just demolish Starmer's defence on Mandelson. It exposed the dysfunction at the heart of his No10 My ten takeaways from this morning's session:- comment.press/or2

@NickCohen4 ...the whole Labour Together, deceptive Starmer leadership campaign, Mandelson appointment jiggery-pokery stinks to high heaven but this issue of vetting is largely irrelevant and is being used by the usual suspects who seize on any opportunity to discredit any Labour leader.

@NickCohen4 So the charge against Starmer was that he must be lying when he denied that anyone toId him about vetting problem. Now that Sir 0 has confirmed Starmer was not told, the narrative is being shifted to blame him some other way. I'm not a fan of Starmer, in fact I think (1/2)

Sir Olly Robbins came across as a conscientious public servant in that hearing. He left Starmer looking like a nightmare boss who fires subordinates to cover up his own blunders

@TheManKlassless @Coinvo There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

@Coinvo BBC is a British news source. That news is already void. Nobody in the U.S takes the UK seriously. They are second class citizens compared to Americans 🤣

JUST IN: 🇬🇧🇺🇸 BBC says the Trump administration is involved in insider trading.

@Coinvo @tillyrosie The only astonishing thing about this story is that the BBC's internal censorship let it through. Does this suggest that solidarity with Trump has moved down in Israel's list of priorites?

@MichaelRosenYes @neonsaxon @jessicaelgot All the disgust is over Mandelson's Epstein links but the vetting issue wasn't to do with that but about commercial conflict of interest for which "mitigations" were implemented. The vetting itself would be a non story if he hadn't been such an obvious bad choice.

@neonsaxon @jessicaelgot It's not a conspiracy theory. It's all hiding in plain sight. Mandelson said on air that he was working 'every day' to change the leadership of the Labour Party. It's been in the MSM what went on. The last bit of the jig-saw, I'm surmising, is that Starmer rewarded Mandelson.

Jessica Elgot writes in Guardian: 'Starmer cannot fathom his own frame of mind when he agreed to Mandelson’s appointment.' We can fathom it! Mandelson, Starmer et al were part of the club that Paul Holden has shown led the campaign to take 'back' the Labour Party. @jessicaelgot

@DPJHodges So if this information was common knowledge among journalists several months ago, how is it suddenly shock horror news just now?

I and other journalists know 7 months ago Peter Mandelson had failed his vetting. So Keir Starmer is either a Knave or a Fool > Daily Mail > dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…

@Claire_RN1 @floboflo @mancunianmedic This is so unlike the country I grew up in. I still cling to the quaintly old fashioned notion that you can be deeply affected by tragic events in the news without actually wrapping yourself. in a Union Jack to go and destroy property and hurl bricks at the police.

@floboflo @mancunianmedic Erm ...where? I don't recall a riot since a man stabbed girls to death at a dance class. And if you were not affected by that then that calls out your own character, not that of 'grifters'.

What Kemi Badenoch didn’t dare reveal is that we need 10,000 more police officers because the far-right are being incited by various grifters every day to go out and riot. Burglaries aren’t being investigated, violent criminals can’t be arrested all because the police are too busy with the far-right thugs. This has to be dealt with.

@LanceForman An interesting addition to the hidden hand theory to go along with those implicating one or more of, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, Andrew Windsor, Vladimir Putin, George Soros, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lord Womann and Harry Edwards.

It would come as no surprise that Mandelson’s appointment was instructed by Blair and that Blair instructed the decision to be overturned when Mandelson failed vetting. And that Blair told Ollie Robins not to say a word to Starmer. Just a theory…

Does anyone think that underlying the Mandelson scandal a key role has been played by Tony Blair?

@Dodster15 @colder_sarcasm @FUDdaily No doubt every penny of the £2.9M expenses paid to Andrew Rosindell was legitimate and essential to the performance of his duties as a little known backbencher with a constituency less than 20 miles from London. One just wonders how more prominent MPs survive on less.

@colder_sarcasm @FUDdaily All duly signed off by the appropriate authorities so what's your point exactly. MPs have expenses...hold the front page.

BREAKING: MP in a party with merely 8 MP’s spends over £2.9 MILLION on expenses!?!?!

@rshereme @sticksandco He's right of course and I guess in time Denmark, Cuba, Iran, and the Pope will all get to see how dumb they were in starting wars with the United States.

“Ukraine should not have started a war against russia. When you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war. You don’t start a war against somebody who is 20 times your size.” Donald Trump

@SamCoatesSky so he's saying Mandleson didn't fail security vetting, because in fact FCDO/Robbins passed him? Does that mean the whole "Starmer made appointment despite vetting failure" thing is a complete non story ?

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

@caitoz @DystopianTimes_ Don't worry you're way down the list of countries he isn't happy with. He has to sort out Denmark, Cuba, Spain, The Vatican, UK and France, after bombing Iran into the store age, before he gets to you.

This bitch seriously expected us to commit to a full-scale war with Iran to force open a blockade he personally caused. Sorry mate, we don’t have enough pedophiles in our government to go along with that one.

@MichaelTakeMP @floboflo Indeed, Boris was a Prime Minister whose reputation for honesty and integrity matched his reputation for sartorial elegance. But there is shurely shome mishtake about the photo. Isn't that Frank Spencer saying "Ooh Betty!" on being caught out telling a whopsie.

Whatever you think of Boris Johnson, at least we know he WASN’T a liar, nor did he ever mislead Parliament. 🇬🇧

@SebastianEPayne @Gabriel_Pogrund @AphraBrandreth This is presumably the high water mark of Sir Olly's defence. Note the passive voice "It was clear that..." No direct instruction from Starmer alleged. Surely he had a duty to refer back when the plan hit the problem of the failed vetting?

This exchange between @AphraBrandreth and Olly Robbins is crucial: Starmer wanted Mandelson as US ambassador, so the Foreign Office acted on his orders and waived it through. The buck therefore firmly rests with the Starmer for making the appointment pre vetting.

@jensen1966 @BethRigby @adamboultonTABB This could be Badenoch's chance to demonstrate that she is not just a lightweight chancer by asking the necessary detailed questions before doing the knee jerk name calling.

@BethRigby @adamboultonTABB Great that Robbins is still going in front of Committee. In the States that probably wouldn’t happen.. Badenoch should be careful accusing the PM of lying until she has heard all the facts. Very school girl bully style.

ANALYSIS: So many questions PM near apoplectic on Friday as he insisted he was not told Peter Mandelson's security vetting had failed.  He insisted, repeatedly, that neither he nor other ministers had been informed about the vetting process and said he would present the full facts to parliament on Monday amid mounting calls for him to resign.  Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition, has accused the PM of lying to save his job.  The stage is then set for an almighty clash - when the prime minister comes to parliament to persuade doubting MPs that he really was kept in the dark and he did not mislead parliament - as his opponents look to finish him off. Key to Starmer's defence on Monday will behe wasn't made aware of the details of Mandelson's vetting.  The central claim from No 10, repeated by the PM's chief secretary Darren Jones this morning, is that Starmer was only made aware on Tuesday night that Lord Mandelson had been granted security clearance against the recommendation of UK security vetting.  Foreign Office has Olly Robbins has been sacked over, as No 10 lays blame at that department's door. I was told the PM had been asking Whitehall questions about vetting for months, given he was being asked to give statements to parliament and this information was not shared. What this suggests is the Foreign Office withheld this information from the PM, which I find simply astonishing and shocking.  Overnight, I've spoken to a couple of former senior civil servants who have told me they find it impossible to believe Robbins would not have flagged this information to the PM and taken the decision to override vetting without consulting or informing any minister.  One former senior mandarin, casting around for a possible explanation, told me "failing" security vetting comes in different grades: "If it's complicated vetting, and the subject lives overseas, it might be that security services can't give a bright green light, but they can come and do the job but can't see top level papers, so the system can bend a bit." But this figure was equally clear that if Lord Mandelson failed vetting, then the explanation from government - that neither the PM nor his advisers, or it emerges the foreign secretary, were told - "makes no sense".  “The very first thing a permanent secretary would do is share that with their political masters," said a former civil servant.  Another told me last night as Robbins was sacked that it was "awful treatment of a very good public servant".  We are yet to hear from Robbins. Chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Emily Thornberry, has asked for the former permanent secretary of the Foreign Office to appear before her committee on Tuesday. The key question for Starmer now is if he misled the House of Commons and is in contempt of parliament… full piece below 👇 #liveblog-body" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">news.sky.com/story/politics…

@Richy_flying @Heccles94 Please don't suggest that being a pensioner excuses their behaviour. I am older than both of them and lived most of my adult life in the Midlands. The changes I've noticed have nothing to do with race but all to do with Thatcher's destruction of our industrial base.

@Heccles94 Let's be clear, they're pensioners who have watched their demographic change. Strange people, more crime, less safe. You don't see it like that because you're not a pensioner and haven't seen any change in your life. You're used to and understand why it is. See other views.

Let’s be crystal clear. This brazen racist attack in broad daylight unfurled by Farage, Lowe and their racist rhetoric. It is fuelled by the Mail, the Express and their daily hate. They deserve longer sentences IMO (8 weeks is all they got)

@nigelbrewer1066 @SophyRidgeSky @RidgeandFrost Stuff tends to be bad only when too much of it ends up where it causes a problem. Eg like alcohol in someone's body, milk on the kitchen floor etc.

@SophyRidgeSky @RidgeandFrost Is this a different CO2 to the one we are told continuously is bad?!

Peter Kyle to @RidgeandFrost on food shortages: "It's tough for me because I don't want to comment on a leak. but now this information is out there I hope people are reassured that we're doing this work. "I decided not to allow a company called Ensis in Teesside that has its by-product CO2, to go bust. I decided to find the money to mothball it and support the company. In the first few days of the conflict erupting in Iran, I decided to un mothball and get that production back up to full capacity." SR: "Because of Iran?" PK: "Specifically because of Iran. So that is now up to full production in the northeast. It hasn't been public, but I've been working very hard when it comes to resilience. SR: On carbon dioxide - it's farming and it's breweries as well, because it's used to add the fizz to drinks - is beer for the World Cup, a concern? PK: "At this moment, this is not a concern for our economy. I can reassure people of that. If that changes, I will speak about it and I will make an announcement about it. But for this moment in time, there is not the concern because I have taken the action. If any of these things change, I will be upfront with the public about it, in advance so that we can prepare. But right now people should go on as they are enjoying beer, enjoying their meats, enjoying all the salads. But also there are critical uses for CO2. MRI scanning, for example, water purification. It's involved in our nuclear industry, our civil nuclear power industry. So some defensive uses for it as well. There's lots of needs for CO2. So these are the reasons why I took it so seriously way back just six months ago, not just in the last few weeks.

@GBX_Press @humanrightslaw Is this what you call "curated visual insight" ? A fancy name for fake news.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Netanyahu will be arrested if he sets foot in Canada.