Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

  Latest release of Mandelson files reveals Work and Pensions Secretary’s frustrations over welfare Daily Telegraph 01/06/26 Labour cares only about who it can tax in order to pay more in benefits , a senior Cabinet minister complained to Lord Mandelson. Pat McFadden , Sir Keir Starmer’s enforcer in Cabinet at the time, told the disgraced peer that every meeting he had with members of the Parliamentary Labour Party concerned the question: “Who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others?” The comments were seized on by the Conservatives , who branded Labour “the welfare party”.   The frank exchange emerged on Monday as part of the Government’s release of more than 1,500 pages of emails and WhatsApp messages relating to Lord Mandelson’s time as the UK’s ambassador to the US. The document release  – the largest laid before Parliament since the 2016 Chilcot Inquiry – was demanded by MPs in the wake of Lord Mandelson’s sacking and fresh revelations about his friendship wi...

The programme once hosted the vile Hitler-loving Diana Mosley. Now it won’t give houseroom to Britain’s most popular politician Daily Telegraph 01/06/26 One of the few remaining jewels in the BBC’s tarnished crown is Desert Island Discs. One reason why the show is still running after 84 years is its uniquely broad range of guests, from every field and across the political spectrum. Sir Keir Starmer was a castaway six years ago, though Andy Burnham beat him to it as long ago as 2015. Last January it was Kemi Badenoch’s turn. We are unlikely to hear Nigel Farage on this BBC flagship, though. According to a forthcoming biography by Lord Ashcroft, the Reform UK leader will never be invited to appear because woke employees would object and woke guests might boycott the show. The BBC indignantly denies the claim. Well, it would, wouldn’t it? Yet it is surely reasonable to ask why Farage has never made the cut. However much you criticise him – and I have frequently done so – his impac...