Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
There's a common misconception that Brutalist buildings were unpainted, but thanks to microscopic analysis of the exteriors we can now recreate what they looked like in their prime.
English
Mr Mark Roberts
21K posts
Mr Mark Roberts
@mrmarkroberts
Creative Director. https://t.co/WcZ7KbzbIH
London Katılım Şubat 2009
4K Takip Edilen2.5K Takipçiler
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
Chic but I bet it was only the British journalists who did this
James Heale@JAHeale
Best line from @katyballs account of DC shooting – "guests grabbed the bottles left on the tables in order to have a drink on the way out"
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
It’s too late for British Gaullism . We didn’t realise we needed it when we did. My article in the New Statesman . newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
The key point of process that determines if you believe Keir Starmer or Olly Robbins is right is still unclear this morning.
The Cabinet Office - led by Antonia Romeo and Cat Little - say they discovered a UKSV document that clearly recommends against giving Mandelson clearance, with a tick in a red box for ‘clearance denied’.
Bloomberg reported on Friday how Cabinet Office officials found this bombshell document on a secure portal while complying with the humble address and everything then developed from there.
That document is the basis for Starmer’s claim that Mandelson failed his vetting and that he should have been told about this recommendation by Robbins.
On the face of it, it does seem absolutely extraordinary that officials would keep this apparently clear written recommendation on such a high-profile appointment from the PM and cabinet secretary. That is why Robbins was sacked.
But Robbins testified yesterday that he never saw this document. Instead he said he only had a verbal briefing with the Foreign Office security team that, in his words, only ‘leaned’ against recommending clearance be granted. He says they were then able to mitigate the concerns and approve Mandelson’s clearance. The Cabinet Office version of events and the document they’ve found, and Robbins’ version, appear to be inconsistent.
Robbins’ contention is essentially that this is all a huge misunderstanding, that Mandelson did not fail his vetting, that the problems raised by UKSV were resolvable by him and he resolved them, and that he shouldn’t have been sacked. Robbins says any pressure from No10 did not impact the decision-making of him and his officials.
Sources say the missing person in the story is Dr Ian Collard, a former senior FCDO security official. He is the person who had the verbal briefing with Robbins where they agreed they could mitigate the UKSV concerns, they say. Collard has since left the government.
It seems Collard might be able to clear up whether UKSV did firmly recommend against Mandelson or only lean that way, and therefore whether Robbins was right to try to fix the problem himself with mitigations, or if he should have rejected Mandelson’s DV on the advice of UKSV and told No10 what had happened.
If the UKSV concerns weren’t that grave and were possible to mitigate, Robbins has a good argument that he was right to do that and clear Mandelson’s DV without raising it up the chain, and therefore that he was unfairly sacked for trying to do what the PM wanted.
If the UKSV concerns were more clear cut, as the UKSV document produced by the Cabinet Office implies, it’s harder for Robbins to argue he did the right thing.
You’d have thought Collard and senior Cabinet Office officials will be called by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee to try to clear this up in the coming days…
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
The idea that ministers' LLM usage is FOI-able is insane. Government should have contested this way more strongly. Clearly should have fallen under the policy development exemption, otherwise we more or less guarantee no minister will use AI at a time that adoption is key!
Matt Clifford@matthewclifford
@JuliaLopezMP Unfortunately, in one of the most absurd rulings I can remember, ministers' ChatGPT usage is deemed to be FOI-able. This is obviously hugely corrosive and more or less guarantees that no minister will (say they) use AI. See e.g. gov.uk/government/pub…
English
<< local councillor : we are delighted that the arson attack is over
and the fire is now out
<< smart commentators : why are you claiming credit? You didn’t even help start the fire ! Loser
Dinesh D'Souza@DineshDSouza
This is about as important and relevant as a spectator sitting at home, watching a sporting event on TV, and yelling at the coaches about what plays they should run.
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
BREAKING: Sources say Olly Robbins felt bound by the rules of the security vetting process NOT to tell the PM, No10 or the foreign secretary about the concerns raised about Mandelson
That means it appears No10 WERE in fact unaware he had issues with his vetting
And sources say in fact Mandelson DID NOT simply fail his vetting. Instead issues were raised and the FCDO security team and ultimately Robbins had to make a decision on whether to grant him DV clearance. It was their decision and there was no “overturning,” sources say
As @SamCoatesSky reports via former security official Ciaran Martin, Robbins was prohibited from sharing information about what happened with anyone outside the FCDO security team
Sources say the point of the vetting process is that it is extremely invasive and people who go through it must be confident they can tell the whole truth and not have highly embarrassing information about their personal lives leak or be spread around colleagues
That means the circle of people allowed to know about what happens in each vetting case is very small and the information is highly privileged
The decision on whether to approve Mandelson’s clearance, according to the vetting rules, is taken by a small team of FCDO security officials and ultimately Robbins, sources say
Under no circumstance is Robbins or that team able to share the details of the vetting case with No10 or anyone else, sources say. Robbins felt he could not share it with any minister or private office, sources say
It appears the PM and No10 were unaware of how these rules were perceived by Robbins and FCDO, and think he should have told them. Allies of Robbins think it is unfair he was sacked
But crucially it appears right now that Robbins did not tell No10 and they were actually in the dark about all this until Tuesday. What an unbelievable mess
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
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…
English
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
Mr Mark Roberts retweetledi
Just to make sure I've got this right.
The Iran war started to get the Epstein files out of the headlines, but now they're talking about the Epstein files to get the monumental cock-up that is the Iran war out of the headlines?
English