Quote:A "fact-finding" call between Mike Ostheimer, the general counsel to the PM, and Jonathan Powell, noted that the latter "found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson (LM) weirdly rushed".
It adds: "JP doesn't recall any specific meetings on this that he was involved in, though there were a few conversations.
"JP raised concerns about the individual and reputation to Morgan McSweeney (MM)."
It adds that McSweeney - then Starmer's chief of staff - "responded that the issues had been addressed".
It also adds that Powell believed Starmer "may have had a couple of political conversations around this but JP was not party".
Powell also didn't "see anything himself" of the correspondence between Mandelson and the PM.
The read-out of the call also notes that the Foreign Office's then permanent under-secretary, Phillip Barton, "also had reservations around the appointment".

Quote:Lord Mandelson asked for more than half a million pounds as a severance payment when he was sacked in September last year - and received £75,000 instead. 
The newly released files show that Mandelson requested the government "pay out the remainder of the 4-year salary costs of the fixed term appointment".
The document states: "This would have amounted to £547,201."
Instead, Mandelson received £40,330 pay in lieu of notice to cover the three months notice period in his contract, plus an additional £34,670 severance payment.

Quote:Sir Keir Starmer's now former chief of staff approved Peter Mandelson's appointment, and discussed the Labour peer's links to Jeffrey Epstein with him. 
A letter from the prime minister's principal private secretary to Starmer, written on 11 December 2024, said: "You have expressed a preference for a political appointment and your Chief of Staff [Morgan McSweeney] has discussed candidates with you, with the lead candidate being Peter Mandelson.
"We have sought a due diligence review from PET (enclosed) and your chief of staff has discussed Peter's relationship with Jeffery Epstein which we will go through with you, but your director of communications is satisfied with his responses to questions about contact."

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-mandelson-files-starmer-labour-trump-12593360

(03-11-2026, 02:44 PM)gortex Wrote: On the day the Mandelson papers are released we discover that Starmer was informed that hiring Mandie came with  "reputational risk" over his friendship with Epstein , Starmers' national security adviser Jonathan Powell thought the appointment of Mandie was "weirdly rushed" , the upshot is that Starmer knew Mandelson had questions to answer before he appointed him as US Ambassador rather than things came to light after the appointment.

...

Everything this dumb arsed PM does turns out to be wrong to one degree or another , their must come a point where even he realises this is more than just a flesh wound and it's time for him to withdraw.
No doubt more to follow.

(03-11-2026, 11:12 PM)gortex Wrote: Calls for Starmer to resign are growing louder with Tory Grandee Jacob Rees-Mogg adding his voice to the chorus.


Confidence vote in 3 ... 2 ...1



The end is nigh.

(03-11-2026, 02:44 PM)gortex Wrote: On the day the Mandelson papers are released we discover that Starmer was informed that hiring Mandie came with  "reputational risk" over his friendship with Epstein , Starmers' national security adviser Jonathan Powell thought the appointment of Mandie was "weirdly rushed" , the upshot is that Starmer knew Mandelson had questions to answer before he appointed him as US Ambassador rather than things came to light after the appointment.

Quote:A "fact-finding" call between Mike Ostheimer, the general counsel to the PM, and Jonathan Powell, noted that the latter "found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson (LM) weirdly rushed".
It adds: "JP doesn't recall any specific meetings on this that he was involved in, though there were a few conversations.
"JP raised concerns about the individual and reputation to Morgan McSweeney (MM)."
It adds that McSweeney - then Starmer's chief of staff - "responded that the issues had been addressed".
It also adds that Powell believed Starmer "may have had a couple of political conversations around this but JP was not party".
Powell also didn't "see anything himself" of the correspondence between Mandelson and the PM.
The read-out of the call also notes that the Foreign Office's then permanent under-secretary, Phillip Barton, "also had reservations around the appointment".

 

The also show that grifter Mandie also tried to get half a million pay out from the tax payer when he was sacked , he received a £75,000 pay out .... nice work if you can get it.

Quote:Lord Mandelson asked for more than half a million pounds as a severance payment when he was sacked in September last year - and received £75,000 instead. 
The newly released files show that Mandelson requested the government "pay out the remainder of the 4-year salary costs of the fixed term appointment".
The document states: "This would have amounted to £547,201."
Instead, Mandelson received £40,330 pay in lieu of notice to cover the three months notice period in his contract, plus an additional £34,670 severance payment.

Quote:Sir Keir Starmer's now former chief of staff approved Peter Mandelson's appointment, and discussed the Labour peer's links to Jeffrey Epstein with him. 
A letter from the prime minister's principal private secretary to Starmer, written on 11 December 2024, said: "You have expressed a preference for a political appointment and your Chief of Staff [Morgan McSweeney] has discussed candidates with you, with the lead candidate being Peter Mandelson.
"We have sought a due diligence review from PET (enclosed) and your chief of staff has discussed Peter's relationship with Jeffery Epstein which we will go through with you, but your director of communications is satisfied with his responses to questions about contact."

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-mandelson-files-starmer-labour-trump-12593360

Everything this dumb arsed PM does turns out to be wrong to one degree or another , their must come a point where even he realises this is more than just a flesh wound and it's time for him to withdraw.
No doubt more to follow.

(03-12-2026, 11:28 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Just an ignoramus from across the Pond, but has Starmer done ANYTHING useful since maneuvering his way into becoming the PM ?

(03-12-2026, 11:28 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Just an ignoramus from across the Pond, but has Starmer done ANYTHING useful since maneuvering his way into becoming the PM ?

Quote:Starmer Scandal: JJ Anisiobi sits down with Express Report's Zak Garner-Purkis following explosive revelations about Keir Starmer's time at the CPS when Child Abduction Warning Notices were being drafted.

What really happened during his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions at the CPS?

Quote:Asylum hotel migrant in his 20s arrested over assault after ‘entering woman’s flat’
near Canary Wharf hotel is cleared due to lack of evidence

'A migrant who had been staying at an asylum hotel has been cleared of assault allegations
after police said there was not enough evidence to pursue the case. The man, believed to be
in his twenties, was arrested last year after reportedly entering the flat of a blind woman
close to the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf.


The Britannia Hotel.

He was detained outside the hotel by members of the public during anti-migrant protests
before officers arrested him on suspicion of common assault. However, the case has now
been dropped due to a lack of evidence, MailOnline reports.

Video footage circulated widely on social media at the time showing the man being restrained
by members of the public and told to “go back to the hotel”, where protesters had gathered
in August. The woman whose home he entered was said to have been left “traumatised” by the
incident and “feared for her life”.

The man is no longer believed to be staying at the Britannia Hotel, which is located around
a five-minute walk from the woman’s property. The woman’s daughter, Channay Augustus, then
22, was later accused of attempting to force her way into the migrant hotel with a meat
cleaver, a court previously heard. Trouble erupted after she discovered the man inside her
mother’s flat, Thames Magistrates’ Court was told.

Augustus was allegedly among a group of about 20 people who attempted to storm the hotel
on the Isle of Dogs in east London. She is said to have chased the man away before later
heading to the hotel at about 6pm, where she confronted a security guard. A short time
afterwards she allegedly returned carrying a meat cleaver and began striking it against
a metal barrier outside the building, the court heard.

Augustus later appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London, where she admitted affray
but denied threatening another person with a blade and assaulting an emergency worker.
Her trial over those charges is scheduled to take place in June.

The Britannia Hotel became a flashpoint for protests last summer after it was repurposed
to house migrants who had arrived in Britain. The four-star hotel was closed to regular
guests and converted into taxpayer-funded “surge” accommodation for illegal arrivals.
At the time, a coach carrying asylum seekers was seen arriving at night, with passengers
running into the hotel under the cover of darkness.

The 500-room hotel — advertised as having “superb views over London” — was designated to
house asylum seekers, sparking anger among anti-migrant demonstrators who staged peaceful
protests outside...'

Quote:Woman ‘feared she’d be murdered by asylum seekers who laughed as they gang-raped her on beach’

'A woman feared she’d be murdered when she was allegedly dragged on to a beach and raped by
three asylum seekers, a court heard. The alleged victim broke down as she told police how she
begged “get off, get off” and struggled to breathe as she was pinned down.

Egyptian nationals Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, and Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, and Iranian national Abdulla
Ahmadi, 26, are accused of targeting the woman when she became separated from her friends.
In a video interview, the woman said she came to on the pebbles on Brighton beach with one
man lying on her while another raped her.


The chaps who spread their culture on a seashore.

She added: “I thought: ‘Oh my God you’re going to kill me’. “I said ‘Get off, get off’ and he was
holding me down. I just closed my eyes. I thought: ‘What are you going to do to me now?’”
The woman also told how she was spat on, kicked and had her throat grabbed by the “laughing”
men.

Hove Crown Court heard the men were staying at Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex,
which was Home Office-approved accommodation for asylum seekers, at the time of the alleged attack.
Jurors were told Alshafe and Ahmadi both entered the UK via small boat on June 19, 2025 – three
months before the alleged rapes. Al-Danasurt entered the country on October 11, 2024, it was said.

In the early hours of October 4 last year, they allegedly targeted the woman as she left a nightclub in
the seaside resort. She had been at a bar with friends until around 3am before going to a nightclub
near the beach. The woman told police she remembered “taking drinks off this Asian man” before
she was sick in the toilet. She added: “After that I don’t remember anything.”

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters said she was intoxicated at the time and “to all intents and
purposes, incapacitated”. She added: “Frankly, to these defendants, the complainant was meat.
“She was repeatedly abused for their sexual gratification and entertainment.”

The court heard the woman was “staggering in the street” alone when she was “targeted” by the
three defendants. Ms Llewellyn-Waters continued: “That targeting was not founded in good will or
bonhomie, in high spirits – it was cynical, predatory and callous.”

Alshafe and Ahmadi took the woman to a location behind a beach shack and raped her “repeatedly”,
jurors heard. Al-Danasurt is alleged to have followed and although the woman did not know if he
raped her, the prosecutor said he was “fully aware of what was happening”. He is accused of
“serving to encourage the commission of those rapes” by filming the alleged attack.

The woman told police: “I could remember like I could see a light in my face, like do you know
like when you put a flash on a like on the camera on an iPhone and I could hear a foreign accent
saying ‘Dirty b***h, dirty b***h’.” She said that man grabbed hold of her face and forced her mouth
open before spitting in it and then encouraging the other men to do the same.

Jurors were shown footage of the “motionless” woman lying on her back with her eyes closed,
while Ahmadi and Alshafe allegedly raped her. One clip, found on Al-Danasurt’s phone, showed
Ahmadi covering his face with his hand during the alleged attack.

She said she was left bloodied and was drifting in and out of consciousness during the assault.
The woman continued: “I don’t know why they done it to me. I’m a nice person. “I hug everybody,
I just thought ‘Why are you doing this to me’. “I remember saying that ‘Why are you doing this to
me’ and they were just laughing. “They were violating me and recording me and laughing. I thought
they were going to kill me.”

Al-Danasurt claimed he barely knew his co-defendants, and videoed what happened because he
wanted to capture “potential evidence”. Ahmadi said the woman was fully consenting and claimed
she initiated the sexual encounter on the beach with the three of them. Alshafe denied being present
in Brighton altogether. Ahmadi, from Crewe in Cheshire, and Alshafe, who lives in Horsham, have
each denied two counts of raping the woman.

Al-Danasurt, also from Horsham, is jointly charged on all four counts of rape as a secondary party
“encouraging the rape by his actions at the scene, including filming it”, and has pleaded not guilty
to all four. He denies a fifth count of “sharing intimate films” without the complainant’s consent.
The trial continues...'

(03-18-2026, 05:41 PM)gortex Wrote: The pressure is beginning to show on the Dear Leader so much so Starmer had a meltdown at Prime Ministers Questions today during repeated questioning by the Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch on whether he had spoken to Mandelson before he appointed him , Starmer tried to find any way possible to avoid answering the question going off on tangents and quoting Tommy Robinson , I'm pretty sure I heard the moment his mind snapped.


9 minutes of pure entertainment.


Weak weak weak.

(03-18-2026, 05:41 PM)gortex Wrote: The pressure is beginning to show on the Dear Leader so much so Starmer had a meltdown at Prime Ministers Questions today during repeated questioning by the Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch on whether he had spoken to Mandelson before he appointed him , Starmer tried to find any way possible to avoid answering the question going off on tangents and quoting Tommy Robinson , I'm pretty sure I heard the moment his mind snapped.


9 minutes of pure entertainment.


Weak weak weak.

Quote:Iranian man and Romanian woman charged after trying to enter British nuclear base

'An 34-year-old Iranian man has been charged after allegedly attempting to break into
a nuclear missile base in Scotland, police have confirmed. A 31-year-old Romanian
woman has also been charged.

The pair were arrested at HM Naval Base Clyde, which is known as Faslane, on Thursday.
The Royal Navy had previously said two people had tried and failed to enter the base.


Faslane Naval Base.

A statement from Police Scotland said: "Around 5pm on Thursday, March 19, 2026 we were
made aware of two people attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde. "A 34-year-old Iranian
man and a 31-year-old Romanian woman have been arrested and charged in connection
with the incident. "They are due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday, March 23.
"Inquiries are ongoing."

A source had previously told The Times: "Without the right passes to enter, they were both
then turned away, it is understood. However, they were then arrested for 'acting suspiciously
in the vicinity'." Faslane is home to four ballistic missile submarines equipped with Trident
weapons, which are responsible for upholding the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent.

It is the core of the UK's submarine fleet, including the Royal Navy’s seven Astute-class which
are capable of launching Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, striking targets with high
precision hundreds of miles inland. It comes as two men were charged on suspicion of
spying for Iran after allegedly targeting Jews in London...'