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‘Just f---ing approve’ Mandelson, No 10 told Foreign Office

Former top civil servant tells MPs there was ‘atmosphere of constant chasing’ for peer’s vetting clearance Daily Telegraph 21/04/26 Sir Olly Robbins has accused Downing Street of putting the Foreign Office under “constant pressure” to clear Lord Mandelson’s vetting to become US ambassador. The former Foreign Office chief claimed No 10 took a “dismissive approach” to the security checks, revealing that officials had even queried whether they were needed at all. In testimony to MPs, Sir Olly, who was sacked last week for failing to tell Sir Keir Starmer that Lord Mandelson had failed Developed Vetting (DV), argued that the peer’s appointment as ambassador to the US was being treated as a fait accompli by the time he arrived at the department in January last year. His intervention will heap further pressure on the Prime Minister, who on Monday defended his handling of the scandal by telling Parliament that Sir Olly had taken a “deliberate decision” not to tell him of the security c...

The attack on Boris Johnson that undermines Starmer’s defence

Prime Minister’s critics see parallels with his position over Lord Mandelson’s vetting to that during ‘partygate’ scandal Daily Telegraph 20/04/26 Sir Keir Starmer once condemned Boris Johnson for “taking the British public for fools” by claiming he did not know what was going on in Downing Street during the “partygate” scandal. While he was leader of the opposition, the Labour leader suggested that the former prime minister was “trashing the ministerial code” by misleading Parliament. Standing at the Dispatch Box in 2022, he rejected Mr Johnson’s claim that he did not know that civil servants were partying in Downing Street during lockdown. The Prime Minister’s critics have seized on footage of him criticising Mr Johnson in one of their exchanges during Prime Minister’s Questions, claiming there are parallels with Sir Keir’s position over the Mandelson vetting scandal. Sir Keir said at the time: “Look, there are only two possible explanations. Either he’s trashing the ministeria...

Britain can’t afford Starmer’s weakness

Even the Prime Minister cannot claim to be ignorant of the sorry state of our Armed Forces Daily Telegraph 18/04/26 Even before No 10 was thrown into chaos by the latest developments in the Mandelson saga, Sir Keir Starmer was unable to make up his mind on one of the most important dilemmas of the age. His spokesman was asked last week for the Government’s view on whether welfare should be cut to increase spending on defence. “It’s not a zero-sum game when it comes to defence and welfare and you have [the Prime Minister’s] words on that,” he said. With respect to the Prime Minister, when the economy is barely growing, defence versus welfare clearly does amount to a zero-sum game. Perhaps Sir Keir needs to be reminded of some basic facts. There is not an unlimited supply of tax revenue to pay for everything the country wants or needs. The Treasury is heavily constrained in how much it can borrow, in part because it has already taken on so much debt and the UK is already spending ...

All the times Starmer called for resignations over ministerial code breaches

As Prime Minister refuses to quit over Mandelson, here are the occasions he has demanded others step down Daily Telegraph 17/04/26 Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly called for ministers to resign for breaching the ministerial code. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, he now stands accused of committing the same offence. The Prime Minister has been accused of misleading Parliament after it emerged Lord Mandelson failed security vetting before his appointment as Britain’s ambassador to the US, despite Sir Keir telling MPs “full due process” was followed. On Thursday night, Downing Street blamed “officials” in the Foreign Office for the decision to override recommendations by the security services and said Sir Keir only became aware of the decision on Tuesday night. Sir Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, was fired over the vetting process. However, this may fail to absolve the embattled Prime Minister. The ministerial code states that “it is of paramount im...

Police have no excuse for hiding the description of gang rape suspects

It is time for the ‘operational independence’ of individual forces to be subjected to scrutiny and ministerial oversight Daily Telegraph 16/04/26 There is an old saying that heaven is where the chefs are French, the lovers are Italian, the mechanics are German, the organisers are Swiss and the British are the police. But British policing is not what it once was. Our police were traditionally marvelled at by other nations everywhere thanks to the model created by Sir Robert Peel. This was based on trust and mutual compliance, an understanding that our police could be trusted and their actions were based on the consent of the people and not by fear or the arbitrary use of state force. This model was an outstanding success. For generations it created the most extraordinary levels of trust and respect and was admired globally. But the model is breaking down – and in part this is happening because of political correctness. Trust is bound to be lost when, after a series of heinous cr...

The cost of silence

What the Southport Inquiry reveals Matt Goodwin - newsletter Apr 15 Like most British people, I’m not sure I will ever forget the moment I heard about the Southport atrocity. The murder of those poor little girls. The senseless violence. The ridiculous attempt by the state to convince us that the monster responsible, Axel Rudakubana, was just as “British” as the children he murdered. And the entirely understandable wave of rage that swept across the country. Which is why the judgement of the Southport inquiry - that this atrocity “could and should have been prevented” - doesn’t just stick in the throat but makes me, no doubt like many of you, feel sick. Axel Rudakubana was not some unknown figure slipping through the cracks. He was well known — to police, to social services, to mental health professionals. In fact, he was known to two separate police forces, two mental health services in the National Health Service, the local council, social services, and his family. Yet nobod...