There's a fundamental question that nobody is asking: Who runs the country? Am I seriously being told that all the state departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office, the Treasury, etc. Are a law unto themselves? What does #Starmer actually do then?
#politics
newstatesman.com/politics/uk-p…

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in reply to dick_turpin

either way Starmer should go. He's either lied or completely incompetent.

I struggle to buy that an FCO civil-servant would make such a decision with out being pressured in advance, or consulting via an undocumented back channel.

And then after it all blew up. You'd have thought the PM might actually go and find out the details. To which it seems he trusted 'a process'. The guy really have no political sense.

in reply to dick_turpin

You aren't the only one asking but 'journalists' don't seem to be. They are so keen to get Starmer fired that they aren't asking the right questions. He's under attack from the Left and Right. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this time, despite his previous errors of judgement. What does "Number 10" mean? Was Starmer kept in the dark because he would have stopped someone's plotting?
in reply to Andy Wootton

I saw something the other day alluding to some backroom deal that Starmer supposedly owed Mandleson, and that's why he gave him the job. The problem is, over the years, we have become so accustomed to that sort of thing that I tend to believe it.

The problem with this whole mess is that amateurs are in charge. Starmer’s attempt to offer up Olly Robbins as a sacrificial lamb has backfired. Now Downing Street intends to release hundreds of documents relating to Mandelson and his appointment, which I wouldn’t be surprised will put Starmer even deeper in trouble. If they can’t get Mandelson vetted right, what chance have they got of scrutinising the documents?