Chris Whiteside's Blog

"Happy St George’s Day. Be proud. Fly the flag." (Rt Ho n Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader) Kemi Badenoch on X: "Happy St George’s Day. Be proud. Fly the flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 https://t.co/VErmHJY0MQ" / X Events to celebrate St George's Day: St. George Events – Happy St. George's Day

Conclusion of an article in the New Statesman ...

Here are three quotes on X today from Dan Hodges . 1) "So I’ve just checked Hansard. And it’s clear that Starmer also misquoted Robbins. He took half a quote to make it look like Robbins had denied pressure had been brought to bear. Where the full quote actually says the opposite." 2) This is the quote that is sparking anxiety inside No.10 this evening. Starmer: “ No pressure existed whatsoever in relation to this case ”. Senior Starmer aides believe that statement is going to come back to bite him in a major way. 3) "I’m told Starmer was simply supposed to stick to quoting Robbins. But by extemporising he made a statement himself that is a provable untruth. Understand they are especially concerned about what Robbins predecessor Sir Phillip Barton will say on the issue." And here are two from Matthew Stadlen making a similar point : 3) "Starmer told the Commons at PMQs: "[Robbins] was asked if any conversations led him to believe that Mandelson needed to ...

Here is a Fantasia on the Yorkshire Anthem ( On Ilkley Moor Bar T'at ) by Simon Mayor, arranged for two mandolins, a mandola, and a mandocello. I must confess that I'd not previously heard of a mandocello, I am reliably informed that this is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. The term does not refer to a type of cello played by Mandalorians as in this picture posted  here on Instagram by the Piano Guys. This is the way ... 

 

"Yeah: Look, it's a fair point, and he shouldn't have been appointed, and that is right." Ed Miliband interviewed about the appointment of Peter Mandelson on ITV yesterday. Here is the interview. Ironically, one of the people interviewing Ed Miliband is Ed Balls, who was of course one of his rivals for the Labour leadership in the 2010 leadership election and who then served as his shadow chancellor. And even Ed Balls is saying that everyone finds the PM's account " not credible " and Miliband has great trouble disagreeing ...

"Now I’m no Prime Minister, but if a guy applied for a job in my institution and he was known by everyone as ‘ the Prince of Darkness ’ I’d make damn sure he passed security vetting before offering him a job." ( Dr Helen Ingram on X yesterday)

This will probably be the one time, in the entire 20 years plus and counting life of this blog, that the quote of the day comes from Diane Abbott MP , but she asked a really good question in the commons yesterday. "It's one thing to say, as he insists on saying, nobody told me, nobody told me anything, nobody told me.  The question is, why didn't the prime minister ask?"

Quoted by  James Heale on X: "Brutal line in Politico https://t.co/Zc4BC19CIi" / X

DUP MP Sammy Wilson "The Prime Minister is fast becoming known as the 'mushroom Prime Minister': kept in the dark and fed - I can't say it..." Mr Speaker "No, you can't."

 Sam Coates at Sky reports on X: "Keir Starmer was advised by the cabinet secretary Simon Case to do security clearance BEFORE appointment but ignored the suggestion. Case said (If you want a political appointment) "you should give us the name of the person you would like to appoint and we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other issues of which you should be aware *before* confirming you choice" Which feels quite material ..... "

Kemi Badenoch's article in the Daily Mail on why the PM should resign. "Why does Sir Keir Starmer want to be Prime Minister? It's very hard to know. But what's certain is that Britain is paying the price of having a PM with no interest in doing the job. Perhaps you think ' all politicians are liars '. Yet the disgraceful appointment of Peter Mandelson points not just to dishonesty, but to a premier too idle to ask basic questions and too weak to face the answers. I have spent hours across the despatch box watching how Starmer operates. He doesn't just refuse to answer questions, he cannot answer questions. He doesn't know how to respond because he's not prepared to do the work. Despite seven months of scandal at the very heart of government, Starmer claims to have made no enquiries, to have seen no documents, or to have heard anything that would have told him Peter Mandelson failed the security vetting. Even by his own defence (fanciful as it is), S...

 

Out today campaigning in the Hensingham area of Whitehaven. Something relaxing to come back to.  

"This is the circle it's impossible for No.10 to square. If, as they have begun claiming, Robbins was indeed precluded from informing them because of the rules, then there were no grounds to sack him. If the rules did not preclude him, then it's inconceivable he didn't tell them." ( Dan Hodges , former Labour and trade union staffer who is now a journalist.) 

This is the front page of the Independent newspaper on 12th September 2025 Right there on the front page of a national newspaper is a report - which we now know was correct - that Peter Mandelson " did not clear vetting " for the role of ambassador to the USA. And this report was actually mentioned in the House of Commons by Rachel Gilmour MP on 16th September 2026. The Prime Minister is now saying that he was not informed until this week of something which had been on the front page of a national newspaper SEVEN MONTHS AGO. It beggars belief that nobody in Number ten would have drawn this to his attention. The idea that nobody in number ten thought to check whether this report might be accurate before the PM and the Foreign Secretary told parliament and the country that the vetting procedures had all been followed is just not credible. If it is true, Starmer is not competent to be Prime Minister. If it is a lie, Starmer has misled parliament and must resign.

Congratulations to our new Councillor, Neil Graham, who won the Cramlington South West by-election from Reform Cramlington South West (Northumberland) Council By-Election Result 16th April 2026: 🌳 CON: 34.2% (+9.0) ➡️ RFM: 26.1% (-13.3) 🌹 LAB: 23.0% (-5.8) 🌍 GRN: 14.3% (New) 🙋 Ind: 1.6% (New) 🔶 LDM: 0.9% (New) No SDP (-6.6) as previous. Conservative GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2025.  

"When the prime minister’s defence is “I’m not a liar; I’m incompetent” then things are not, on balance, going very well." Alex Massie on X  ( Here .)

 As Kemi Badenoch said today " It is preposterous for Starmer to claim he did not know Mandelson failed security vetting. If the Prime Minister doesn’t know what’s happening in his own office, he shouldn’t be in charge of our country. He should go. " Meanwhile it appears that at a time of huge international danger, the chancellor is holding up resources for our country's defence which the review concluded by a former labour defence secretary and NATO secretary-general says are urgently needed, because the MoD doesn't employ enough women. In honour of both of them, here's a performance of Haydn's " Insane et vanae curae "  A lose translation of the lyrics would begin with "Vain and frantic fears invade our minds;  Again and again they fill our hearts with madness, and deprive us of hope." Just what Starmer and Reeves are doing to the country!

"Today we found out that the PM lied to the House over the Mandelson vetting and the Chancellor won't countenance a vital increase in defence spending because there aren't enough women in the armed forces. A liar and an idiot." ( Stephen Pollard on X)

 “A stronger defense is an investment in peace.” — Ronald Reagan

Words from the latest Labour former defence minister to break ranks and say that the present Labour government should be doing more on defence: Geoff Hoon , quoted by the Independent's chief political correspondent John Rentoul on X today.

 "The former Labour minister who wrote Keir Starmer’s Strategic Defence Review has accused the PM of “ corrosive complacency ” and said “ we cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget ”. I completely agree. It was exactly what I told Starmer in Parliament yesterday and said in my speech to Defence experts at the weekend. We need to get serious. The Conservatives would restore the two child benefit cap and repurpose funds from net zero projects to invest in our military. Meanwhile the government have NO plan and, as Lord Robertson points out, Rachel Reeves had only 40 words on defence in her Budget and none in the Spring Statement. You can’t trust Labour on defence." This is what Kemi Badenoch said today, and she was right. The Financial Times reported that Lord George Robertson, author of the British military review, said that there was a gap between the prime minister’s rhetoric and action on defence — saying Keir Starmer was ‘ not willing to make the neces...

"Everyone in Hungary knows that Ukraine is a victim of this war and no one should tell them under what conditions they should enter a peace or sign a peace treaty. We cannot tell any country to give up their territory. And this is what the Fidesz politicians said. Then I would like to ask them: What would you do if Russia attacked Hungary? Which Hungarian counties would you be willing to give up? Ukraine should receive security guarantees and territorial guarantees that can be observed and kept. Ukraine, under the Budapest Memorandum, gave up its nuclear arsenal for guarantees, but those guarantees were violated repeatedly by Russia." Peter Magyar , PM-elect of Hungary