Suppose that the reason Keir Starmer couldn't be told that Peter Mandelson failed his vetting is that Keir Starmer failed his. @afneil @CharlesHMoore @FraserNelson

The Ciaran Martin gambit is coming apart. His bluff depends on what it says in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Call his bluff. Take a look at the legislation (legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/201…). Call his bluff. Nowhere does it say that Olly can't tell Keir that Peter failed his vetting, even if he was found to have advocated the slaughter of the firstborn. Jack Straw, responsible for the Act, figures in a Telegraph report (telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…) yesterday: QUOTE But Jack Straw, a Labour grandee who as Gordon Brown’s justice secretary helped draft the law in 2010, has thrown his weight behind Sir Keir’s version of events. There is nothing in the act which “remotely prohibits officials informing the Prime Minister,” he said. UNQUOTE Robert Peston says both red boxes on the UK Security Vetting form were ticked, "Hogh Concern" and "Clearance Denied or Withdrawn" (x.com/Peston/status/20451977…). Amol Rajan said the same thing on yesterday's Radio 4 Today programme (bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002v9… 47'11"-57'49") when he interviewed Lord Simon McDonald, who was previously in Sir Olly Robbins's position as Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign Office. Lord McDonald muddies the waters by arguing that the details of the findings of a developed vetting must be kept confidential, they cannot be passed on to ministers, it's against the law. But no-one's suggesting that the details should be passed on. This is classic obfuscation. He also argued that we shouldn't all get hung up on the word "failed". There's a spectrum, discretion is needed, judgement, it's not an on-off binary switch thing. But he also says (50'29"-50'50"): QUOTE If there had been a failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion, would have to be conveyed to the political level … UNQUOTE And that's the point. With both red boxes ticked, there has been a failure and that judgement – not the reasons for it, just the judgement – should have been conveyed to the Foreign Secretary and maybe others. It wasn't. It is suggested by any number of commentators at the moment that Keir Starmer has created an atmosphere in which advisors don't want to tell him anything, in the interests of plausible deniability or even because he is evidently simply uninterested. He may well be as contemptible as he sounds. But Whitehall is meant to do its job properly come what may, whichever government is in power, however ghastly the minister or prime minister. And they're meant to do so in the interests of the country. Sir Olly's incompetent decision to allow the country to be represented in the US by Peter Mandelson without mentioning to the powers that be that Mandelson had scored two red ticks in his vetting is a case of misfeasance in public office so clear that the Ciaran Martin gambit looks like an ill-considered utterly inappropriate game.

The project that keeps on starting ----- Heart-warming. That's the only word to describe it. If you were born yesterday. 24 March 2026, and @leicesterliz and @SciTechgovuk announce: "More than one million helped get connected and get online thanks to government digital inclusion action plan" (gov.uk/government/news/more-…): QUOTE First ever government Digital Inclusion Action Plan has already helped more than 1 million people get connected in its first year UNQUOTE Well done. Except for that word "already". It seems like only 12½ years ago that DMossEsq wrote 'GDS & assisted digital – the project that keeps on starting' (dmossesq.com/2013/10/gds-ass…), which includes: QUOTE GDS's assisted digital project, which started on 28 July 2011 and 30 May 2012 and 23 May 2013 and 20 June 2013 and 31 July 2015, will next start some time after 18 January 2016 – that's the date when tenders must be submitted to join "a framework agreement for suppliers to provide training and digital support services to help reduce digital exclusion". UNQUOTE The goldfish in Whitehall have such short memories. We can look forward to 2027 when the next "first ever government Digital Inclusion Action Plan" is launched.

‘Bullying’ report destroyed after ethics team broke into safe thetimes.com/uk/politics/art… x.com/DMossEsq/status/202229… QUOTE The Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team broke into a safe and destroyed the department’s copy of a historic bullying investigation into the new head of the civil service. UNQUOTE Most odd. Watergate? x.com/DMossEsq/status/202229…

Mandarin praised ----- First Lord McDonald suggests to Channel 4 News that appointing Antonio Romeo as Cabinet Secretary would be a mistake (channel4.com/news/due-dilige…). Then the Spectator say she's great. Then someone says she enforced Stonewall-supporting policies at the Department for International Trade. Then colleagues of Dame Antonia say she's great. Then there's a story about Cabinet Office safe-cracking and the destruction of evidence. Clearly there's a war going on. Truth is one of the victims. Who knows what to believe? The big guns came out on Saturday 21st February 2025. Not one former Cabinet Secretary, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six but seven former Cabinet Secretaries signed a letter to the Times newspaper which opens with "Sir, As previous holders of the post, we believe that Dame Antonia Romeo is an excellent choice as cabinet secretary". Does the other side have any ammunition left? thetimes.com/comment/letters…

Move fast. Fix things. Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones' speech on rewiring Whitehall and building the new digital state. Delivered on:20 January 2026 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) gov.uk/government/speeches/m… This document issued by the Cabinet Office claims to be a "Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered". It isn't. Seven times in the text we read "[political content redacted]". Chilling? @cabinetofficeuk @darrenpjones @BigBrotherWatch @silkiecarlo