David McClean

@JChimirie66677 @gavan1734 And Sue Gray resigned when?!? Would be interesting to ask her level of knowledge?

@gavan1734 Thank you, Gavan, that's a significant claim and if accurate it changes the picture considerably. Do you have a link to the Independent piece?

Robbins Knew. Romeo Knew. Only One of Them Was Sacked. Keir Starmer has now established a principle of accountability so brazen it deserves to be stated plainly. If you knew about Mandelson's vetting failure and said nothing, your fate depends entirely on how much the Prime Minister needs you. Olly Robbins knew. He was sacked. Antonia Romeo knew. She was backed. The only difference between the two cases is that Starmer cannot afford to lose another Cabinet Secretary. Romeo knew about the vetting failure from late March. She sat on it for a fortnight, consulting lawyers and other officials before informing the Prime Minister. Robbins had known since early 2025 and said nothing, citing legal obligations under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Lord McDonald, his predecessor as Foreign Office Permanent Secretary, confirmed on the record that Robbins was observing process according to law, comparing the confidentiality of vetting files to medical records. Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said there was no abuse of process and that there is not merely no duty to disclose vetting details but a positive duty not to. Both officials followed process. One kept his silence for legal reasons. The other kept hers while seeking legal advice on how to break it. Robbins lost his job. Romeo kept hers. The question Robbins's allies are now asking publicly is one the Prime Minister cannot answer: what did Antonia do right that Olly did wrong? The answer, of course, is nothing. The distinction is purely political, not procedural. Then there is the York-Smith memo. Released by Downing Street on Friday evening, it records the meeting at which Starmer was finally informed of the vetting failure on Tuesday 15 April. The memo states that the Prime Minister was not aware of any of this before the meeting, including that it was even possible to grant clearance against the advice of UKSV. Read that sentence carefully. The former Director of Public Prosecutions, the man who spent years assessing evidence and weighing institutional processes, did not know that the security vetting system contained a discretionary override mechanism. He was not merely unaware that Mandelson had failed. He was unaware that the process he had repeatedly told Parliament had been followed correctly contained a provision that had been used to circumvent the security services' recommendation. Set that alongside the letter Robbins wrote to Richard Holden MP on 24 July 2025, six months before he was sacked, in which he confirmed in writing that Mandelson was directly appointed to the role by ministers. One document says ministers drove the appointment. The other says the Prime Minister did not understand the process that governed it. Both are now on the public record. Both cannot be true simultaneously. Meanwhile Starmer's own people were recording in writing that they believed he had inadvertently misled Parliament. That phrase appears in the York-Smith memo itself. Not in an opposition briefing. Not in a hostile newspaper. In a document produced inside Downing Street, by Starmer's own Principal Private Secretary, on the evening the Prime Minister was finally told the truth. One serving Labour minister has already described what is unfolding as an inevitable death, but a very slow one. That is not Kemi Badenoch speaking. That is someone who sits in Starmer's own government, who watches him from the inside, and who has already written his political obituary. Monday's Commons statement will tell us whether the death accelerates. What it cannot do is change what the documents have already established. A Prime Minister who protects the useful and sacrifices the expendable, who claimed ignorance of processes he oversaw, and whose own colleagues have abandoned hope, has not merely lost control of a scandal. He has lost the authority to govern. Olly Robbins and Antonia Romeo

@faisalislam A remarkably stupid comment- it suggests nothing of the sort. Ever heard of the swap market?

Intriguing that Google-owner Alphabet opts to raise many billions in sterling including rare 100 year bond previously only done by Oxford Uni/ Wellcome Trust suggests l-t faith in UK & £, as well as Google’s commitment to home of eg Deepmind… pricing v gilts will be interesting

@Arden_2210 37

If you solve this without calculator You deserved 1000$ Answer 🤔

@UTDAlex8 Gareth bale

Guess the Goalscorer Level: HARDEST

@julianHjessop 1) what’s the split between private and public sector? Feels like private sector is contracting sharply and only public sector inflation is providing any growth? 2) what does this look like as GDP per capita?

Is the UK already in recession? 🤔 Not yet on the usual definition of two successive quarters of negative growth (Q3 was +0.1%). But I'd say 'yes' on other definitions - such as broad-based falls in activity lasting more than a few months - though for now this is a shallow one.

@julianHjessop I have this vision of the Budget announcement being run like the draw for the third round of the FA Cup - a big bowl with numbered balls for each policy and Kier and Rachel taking turns to pick one.

"Starmer and Reeves ditch Budget plan to raise income tax rates" (FT) Good grief... 1️⃣ This latest and biggest U-turn is presumably a political decision, made by No.10 to try to save Starmer, which risks shredding any credibility with the markets... 🧵

@julianHjessop Any thoughts on the negative effects on future growth for each scenario?

FWIW, here's the latest iteration of my 'Budget Scorecard', with three scenarios for the size of the hole to be filled (£17bn, £34bn and £50bn) and a set of tax options for each. Obviously only 'indicative', and there are many other permutations... 🤔

@Keir_Starmer Your lower NIC thresholds and higher minimum wage level are proving pretty effective at smashing businesses in the UK so perhaps you should extend these regimes to the people smugglers.

I am determined to smash the business model used by people smugglers, and I'm taking joint action with our allies to make it happen. Building on our deal with France and renewed international cooperation, our strengthened partnership with Iraq will deter small boat arrivals and secure our borders.

@izakaminska Somewhat ironic (or intended) to see security and reduced dependency coming from the East. Better call Vlad?

Oh, and there’s a pretty picture of the Compass that will help navigate Europe out of certain economic doom and staganation.

@RobertRees_ Perhaps we could lease the field to a country nearby? Suggestions anyone?

Apparently the Falklands Island have discovered a massive oil field beneath them. Isn't it ironic that the wealth there cannot be used to make the UK richer because of some crazy self harming idiot named Milliband. N Sea oil saved Britain in the 80s. But not this time apparently.

@EdConwaySky @stefanstern @Wimbookfest Excellent event - many thanks! Your take on net zero was particularly sobering.

🎟️ Next Sunday lunchtime I'll be talking to @stefanstern at @Wimbookfest. A whistlestop guide to the materials that power the modern world. Tickets still available. Do come along! wimbledonbookfest.org/events/ed-conw…

@MrRBourne @julianHjessop Wonderwall windfall tax the only way to go.

Introducing your focused, mission-led government for growth, that will tread lightly on other areas of your life.

@jburnmurdoch @CRobertson500 "exist solely"???? For those that care to think and assess it also makes it much easier to access all different opinions. Not an opportunity that existed before social media........

@CRobertson500 To the people saying “this is nothing new, people have always sought out people who agree with them”. That used to take time and effort, whereas today we all carry a small device 24/7 stuffed with apps that exist solely to show us people with the same opinions as us.

It would be fascinating to see historical data for this sort of thing. I strongly suspect this phenomenon of being in a tiny unrepresentative minority but believing most people agree with you (and therefore feeling empowered to act) is a social media era phenomenon.

@julianHjessop In a client state the "workers" - in particular the public sector employees - are the infrastructure so the spending is going there. OF course taxes on S&I won't affect private sector incentives....sarcasm aside, spot on - almost as if Labour have lost their nerve already.

Elephant in the room ahead of #RachelReeves' statement this afternoon... 🐘 Why on earth has #Labour doubled down on arbitrary fiscal rules that look set to result in cuts in infrastructure spending and increases in #taxes on savings and investment? 🤷‍♂️

@izakaminska @BigBrotherWatch Tinted windows to become very popular....

"The cameras can spy inside a vehicle to catch law-breaking drivers and send their details to the police" Is the police systematically long-lens snooping into your private car compatible with ECHR privacy law? @BigBrotherWatch x.com/GBNEWS/status/…

@marketplunger1 William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Ursula le Guin, Isaac Asimov.....

After watching Dune Pt. 1 and 2 I am convinced I need to start reading Science Fiction. Sci-Fi Twitter, I need your help. What are some great Sci-Fi series for beginners like myself?

@izakaminska @robilypj And by implication you believe that the regulatory authorities do know where to look?

@robilypj 💯 but then the burden of finding experts is passed onto the court, which often doesn’t have expertise in knowing where to look. It’s a total clusterfuck frankly.

A Barrister knowingly using a fake expert. Same as in my trial. Both prosecution counsel knew a number of people had written his report and approved a “specialist” (paid and subject to an NDA) checking it for “howlers”. One day this will all come out. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-686061…

@julianHjessop How about GDP per capita? Japan's population is shrinking by ? 0.8% pa ATM? While UK is rising by ? 1% + a lot of small boats? So even to keep pace UK has to outperform Japan by 1.8%...

Another major economy slips into #recession... 🇯🇵 #Japan's GDP unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% in Q4 2023, on top of a downwardly revised 0.8% fall in Q3 (previously -0.7%), with consumer spending declining for the third quarter in a row. esri.cao.go.jp/en/sna/data/so…

@RobertRees_ @Harryslaststand Dresden? Tokyo?

@Harryslaststand Quite a few I suspect - for instance battle for Warsaw (3 weeks in sept 1939) over 18,000 civilians killed. Or Srebrenica 1995 - 7-8,000 man and boys killed. And others.

Does anyone know, outside of the Holocaust and perhaps the Allies Operation Gomorrah of a single battle for one city or urban area that saw 4k kids dead from bombardment in 3 weeks during WW2?

@MartinKnight_ @surly958 Surely should be The Railway Inn Side?

@surly958 Yes.

Guess the name of this pub.