The man who is all about rules don’t follow the rules, who woulda funk.
Lmao but nah its obvious what happened here. He chose Mandelson despite the risks because he knew it would help keep Trump on side. If the Epstein thing didn’t blow up, it would have been a smart move.
Hufflepuffins on
I’m actually a huge Keir Starmer fan and even I think this lie is just too much to ignore, unlike all the other lies which I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring so far
RoamingThomist on
It’s quite amazing how stupid Starmer thinks the public is.
ash_ninetyone on
If you’re about to appoint someone who failed security vetting to a government position, you’d think that be something you’d tell the PM in that case.
I don’t buy it. That’s a Humphrey Appleby level of complacency on that one
Loreki on
TIL you can fail security vetting and still get a very senior appointment.
_InstanTT on
Everyone here is saying he’s lying but this is such an unbelievably unnecessary lie to make that I think he’s being truthful. That creates a lot of other difficult questions though.
GuiltyWarning86 on
Mandelson resigned in 1998 as trade secretary for breaking rules over loans.
He further resigned in 2001 for again breaking rules.
He should have been nowhere near the vetting process after critical failures, this is the real failure that Starmer has to answer for and should resign for this poor judgement
Mr_XcX on
This is just horrific. He lied to the Country and Parliament. Teas out.
Training_Staff_7743 on
To be fair, Mandelson was a Lord and had worked numerous times in government.
By the time Mandelson became the US Ambassador, anybody and everybody would have waived him through if he failed a US based vetting process.
fenland1 on
‘The party asked you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final and essential command’
We have arrived, a little later than Orwell predicted.
unknowntoff on
I don’t know why people are blaming the Prime Minister over this when clearly it’s the foreign office that would be at fault and therefore David Lammy is to blame, not Kier Starmer.
MapDiscombobulated1 on
None of them, including ANY of the Oppo Parties can actually spit out the truth – Mandelson was going to be Ambassador come whatever because he talks fluent corruption and the Trump Regime wanted him specifically.
Connor123x on
Me thinks the fact that he failed vetting and Starmer didn’t know is a problem in of itself.
Caacrinolass on
Possibly? I can believe that Starmer is hands off enough to not give a fuck about the process, trusting others to do it properly. That’s also a pretty bad excuse, but plausible. This one has the whiff of McSweeny all over it but of course he has “lost his phone”.
dnemonicterrier on
Mandelson shouldn’t have been put forward for vetting let alone any job, he’s got scandals in his past in office he’s not to be trusted but this huge mistake that shouldn’t have been made is what could end Starmer’s career.
PartyPoison98 on
I’ll say now what I said every time the Tories tried the whole “PM didn’t know excuse”.
There are three possibilities. One is that the PM did know and is lying.
Two is a subset of the above, where the PM knew in a sense, but was deliberately kept away from *knowing* as to not implicate them.
Three is that the PM genuinely didn’t know, and that they are so incompetent and their authority so weak that members of the government and the civil service do this under their nose.
All are bad.
stbens on
This is hugely damaging to Starmer. Either someone in his inner circle, who had the vetting report, lied to Starmer and said that Mandelson had “passed” his vetting or Starmer is lying and he still decided to appoint Mandelson anyway.
Even if Starmer was lied to I can’t believe that he didn’t ask to see the report himself, knowing that this was a controversial and very risky appointment. He may have had complete trust and faith in his team but, for his own peace of mind, he should have asked to have seen the vetting report himself. Even a severely edited version, consisting of either “Pass” or “Fail”, would have been enough for Starmer’s to investigate a little further.
Hellstorm901 on
***”Worth the risk”*** – Peter Kyle former Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology who was in charge of implementing the UK’s draconian Online Safety Act under the guise of protecting children when discussing the appointment of Mandelson despite knowing he had ties to one of the worst pedophiles in human history
You you trust this government?
NotSynthx on
Then surely the people who hid that information from him should be fired right?
LLILILiLIILILILILII on
I’m not sure what’s worse, that he wasn’t told because he didn’t want to know, or if he’s just routinely not told matters of importance.
limeflavoured on
If this is true then there needs to be arrests of the civil servants who lied. If it is t true then Starmer is toast (although even if he resigned now he’d still be PM until after a leadership election. Which realistically wouldnt be instant because of the local elections, so even if he resigned tomorrow he’d be PM until June).
IcyExercise908 on
Liar or incompetence? Just go, nobody likes you. The problem is the replacement, looking through the cabinet, nobody inspires at all.
karpet_muncher on
He knew trump and Mandy had links from years ago. He felt that might give him an edge in his dealings with trump. They walked the same circles.
leftthinking on
Happy to appoint someone *before* they are confirmed to pass vetting though.
seanr999 on
My guess is Kier Starmer knew but accepted it. Mandleson knows where the bodies are buried. Bet he has dirt on most of the cabinet including Starmer.
Throwitaway701 on
Unluckiest man in history. People under him just keep making controversial decisions and he just never hears about it. It never reaches him.
26 commenti
The man who is all about rules don’t follow the rules, who woulda funk.
Lmao but nah its obvious what happened here. He chose Mandelson despite the risks because he knew it would help keep Trump on side. If the Epstein thing didn’t blow up, it would have been a smart move.
I’m actually a huge Keir Starmer fan and even I think this lie is just too much to ignore, unlike all the other lies which I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring so far
It’s quite amazing how stupid Starmer thinks the public is.
If you’re about to appoint someone who failed security vetting to a government position, you’d think that be something you’d tell the PM in that case.
I don’t buy it. That’s a Humphrey Appleby level of complacency on that one
TIL you can fail security vetting and still get a very senior appointment.
Everyone here is saying he’s lying but this is such an unbelievably unnecessary lie to make that I think he’s being truthful. That creates a lot of other difficult questions though.
Mandelson resigned in 1998 as trade secretary for breaking rules over loans.
He further resigned in 2001 for again breaking rules.
He should have been nowhere near the vetting process after critical failures, this is the real failure that Starmer has to answer for and should resign for this poor judgement
This is just horrific. He lied to the Country and Parliament. Teas out.
To be fair, Mandelson was a Lord and had worked numerous times in government.
By the time Mandelson became the US Ambassador, anybody and everybody would have waived him through if he failed a US based vetting process.
‘The party asked you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final and essential command’
We have arrived, a little later than Orwell predicted.
I don’t know why people are blaming the Prime Minister over this when clearly it’s the foreign office that would be at fault and therefore David Lammy is to blame, not Kier Starmer.
None of them, including ANY of the Oppo Parties can actually spit out the truth – Mandelson was going to be Ambassador come whatever because he talks fluent corruption and the Trump Regime wanted him specifically.
Me thinks the fact that he failed vetting and Starmer didn’t know is a problem in of itself.
Possibly? I can believe that Starmer is hands off enough to not give a fuck about the process, trusting others to do it properly. That’s also a pretty bad excuse, but plausible. This one has the whiff of McSweeny all over it but of course he has “lost his phone”.
Mandelson shouldn’t have been put forward for vetting let alone any job, he’s got scandals in his past in office he’s not to be trusted but this huge mistake that shouldn’t have been made is what could end Starmer’s career.
I’ll say now what I said every time the Tories tried the whole “PM didn’t know excuse”.
There are three possibilities. One is that the PM did know and is lying.
Two is a subset of the above, where the PM knew in a sense, but was deliberately kept away from *knowing* as to not implicate them.
Three is that the PM genuinely didn’t know, and that they are so incompetent and their authority so weak that members of the government and the civil service do this under their nose.
All are bad.
This is hugely damaging to Starmer. Either someone in his inner circle, who had the vetting report, lied to Starmer and said that Mandelson had “passed” his vetting or Starmer is lying and he still decided to appoint Mandelson anyway.
Even if Starmer was lied to I can’t believe that he didn’t ask to see the report himself, knowing that this was a controversial and very risky appointment. He may have had complete trust and faith in his team but, for his own peace of mind, he should have asked to have seen the vetting report himself. Even a severely edited version, consisting of either “Pass” or “Fail”, would have been enough for Starmer’s to investigate a little further.
***”Worth the risk”*** – Peter Kyle former Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology who was in charge of implementing the UK’s draconian Online Safety Act under the guise of protecting children when discussing the appointment of Mandelson despite knowing he had ties to one of the worst pedophiles in human history
You you trust this government?
Then surely the people who hid that information from him should be fired right?
I’m not sure what’s worse, that he wasn’t told because he didn’t want to know, or if he’s just routinely not told matters of importance.
If this is true then there needs to be arrests of the civil servants who lied. If it is t true then Starmer is toast (although even if he resigned now he’d still be PM until after a leadership election. Which realistically wouldnt be instant because of the local elections, so even if he resigned tomorrow he’d be PM until June).
Liar or incompetence? Just go, nobody likes you. The problem is the replacement, looking through the cabinet, nobody inspires at all.
He knew trump and Mandy had links from years ago. He felt that might give him an edge in his dealings with trump. They walked the same circles.
Happy to appoint someone *before* they are confirmed to pass vetting though.
My guess is Kier Starmer knew but accepted it. Mandleson knows where the bodies are buried. Bet he has dirt on most of the cabinet including Starmer.
Unluckiest man in history. People under him just keep making controversial decisions and he just never hears about it. It never reaches him.