Charles Lyons-Jones
6.3K posts
@cnlyonsjones
Research Fellow @LowyInstitute. Former diplomat @dfat and international adviser @pmc_gov_au. Watching strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific. Views are mine.
🚨NEW: Robbins releases statement setting out his case ahead of select committee. Says No 10 took a dismissive approach to Mandelson vetting and talks of an atmosphere of pressure
This would be a huge departure from practice. It's potentially extremely damaging to the integrity of the vetting system. You're asking candidates to divulge their most personal details. They trust it will remain private.
Sir Robin Butler, a former cabinet secretary, says that Starmer put Olly Robbins in an 'impossible' position by announcing Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador before security vetting had been conducted He told @TimesRadio: 'The vetting process is highly confidential because it goes into all sorts of personal matters 'If he had told the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary of the adverse security advice, they would have had to consider revoking the appointments on the grounds that it was a security risk 'Well, just consider what damage that would have done to Peter Mandelson and to the security vetting process 'The problem was that the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson and the announcement and the clearance with the King had all taken place in advance of the vetting before knowing what the vetting procedure would throw out'
When I was in Australia last December, I found it impossible to transact with any business where there weren't latent government price controls or subsidies of some kind. I came to the realization that with the public sector growing about 5x faster than the private sector, Australia was well on the way to an effectively government run economy, communism by stealth. I dug deeper - the point of no return occurred in about 2013. caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/aus…
Interesting to me that when you see men on the global stage, beautiful Western-style tailoring is often worn by men from non-Western countries. Pictured here is Shehbaz Sharif (Pakistan), Akinwumi Adesina (Nigeria), and Naruhito (Japan).
Yes, Europe should do more to support Ukraine (& it already is). And the USG should stop acting as if support for Ukraine is a drain without benefit. Such support advances US interests by weakening an adversary at another's hands. Ukraine is now also a security provider in the Gulf. Good investment. politico.eu/article/pentag…
