Chris Whiteside's Blog

"This is going to be unpopular, but here goes. I believe Sir Keir Starmer. I don’t think he would be so foolish, or so careless, as to lie to Parliament. He is an ultra-cautious man, a creature of procedure. When he says that he did not discover until this month that Peter Mandelson had been denied security clearance as a potential ambassador, I think he is telling the truth. But here’s the thing .  He never allowed the slightest leeway to others in similar circumstances.   As leader of the Opposition, he always assumed the worst, always levelled accusations of lying, always demanded resignations. Boris Johnson was, in my view, also telling the truth as he understood it when he said that he had been “ assured that no Covid rules were broken ”. He plainly took the word “party” to mean a festive congregation of invited guests, not a break for tea among keyworkers. The only actual party in Number 10 was organised by officials while Boris was 40 miles away. Yet Starmer insisted th...

 

"The instinct after a crisis in No10 is always to add more process. But the Mandelson appointment wasn't a failure of process - it was a failure of political judgment. The right response to bad decisions is better decision-making, not process paralysis." Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP.

The app X, formerly twitter, is all too often full of poison, but every so often you get something on X which is so useful, entertaining or fascinating that it rewards putting up with the trash.  I love this crossover table which brilliantly fits together four famous sayings, principles or "thought experiments" - Chekhov's Gun, Schrödinger's Cat, Occam's Razor, and Murphy's law. NB - if you're looking at the top level of the blog, you don't see the bottom of the image with the fourth row of boxes: you have to click on " Read More " to see the whole picture."

The choir of Selby Abbey sang this beautifully aa the Communion anthem this morning. I don't have a recording of their performance, but here is a very good one by the Dolor Consort.

"The economic disasters of socialism and communism come from assuming a blanket superiority of those who want to run a whole economy." Thomas Sowell

"The Falkland Islands are British…no matter what Donald Trump says. We must defend British Sovereign territory, and to do that we must back our armed forces. Only the Conservatives have a plan to reinstate the two child benefit, and use the savings to fund our military." Rt. Hon. Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader

( From X this week ) Sir Keir Starmer combines the veracity of Boris Johnson with the people skills of Gordon Brown, the charisma of Theresa May, the common touch of Jacob Rees-Mogg and the human empathy of Donald Trump.

"Last week No.10 published a blank vetting form they claimed proved Olly Robinson had misled the Prime Minister. Robbins said he’d never seen any form of that type. No.10 are refusing to publish the original. It’s a farce." ( Dan Hodges on X yesterday) ( Dan Hodges on X: "Last week No.10 published a blank vetting form they claimed proved Olly Robinson had misled the Prime Minister. Robbins said he’d never seen any form of that type. No.10 are refusing to publish the original. It’s a farce." / X )

 

"Happy St George’s Day. Be proud. Fly the flag." (Rt. Hon. Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader) There is an accompanying video and extended version of the message which you can see and hear by clicking on this link: 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...