Earlier, ousted Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins told MPs he had faced ‘constant pressure’ from No 10 to get Mandelson in postRobbins v Starmer: the key Mandelson points they disagree onThe hearing has started.Emily Thornberry, the chair, started by saying that Robbins did not tell the whole truth about this process when he gave evidence to it in November. Continue reading...
MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks
MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador
At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:
Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.
One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”
Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.
However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.
It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.
And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.
The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be.
The prime minister was not aware that the former US ambassador had failed the vetting process, according to Downing StreetSwinney says this is a manifesto for the whole of Scotland.He confirms that the SNP would argue for the Scottish power to have more control over energy policy (still largely reserved to Westminter). He says:The problem is not that we do not have the energy. The problem is that Westminster has the power. This election is our opportunity to take those powers and put them into S
The prime minister was not aware that the former US ambassador had failed the vetting process, according to Downing Street
Swinney says this is a manifesto for the whole of Scotland.
He confirms that the SNP would argue for the Scottish power to have more control over energy policy (still largely reserved to Westminter). He says:
The problem is not that we do not have the energy. The problem is that Westminster has the power. This election is our opportunity to take those powers and put them into Scotland’s hands.
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