[Boiler]

Badenoch is now claiming that Starmer misled the House.

The Greens and the Lib Dems are saying Starmer should resign if he has misled the House.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This looks very bad. Cooper could be in trouble too.

[Killer Whale]

Aren't they just allowed to say that they thought a corrupt insider was the perfect fit to work with the Trump administration? That's clearly what was behind all of this.

[The Weeping Angel]

This looks very bad. Cooper could be in trouble too.

I reckon he'll get forced out over this.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The only thing that might save him is if the Permanent Secretary (Ollie Robins) overruled and didn't tell a Minister.

But I think the combination of this and the local elections will be too much for him. Cooper seems to have known after the event, hence some strange wording in her statement dealing with the fallout. She may have to go too.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Aren't they just allowed to say that they thought a corrupt insider was the perfect fit to work with the Trump administration? That's clearly what was behind all of this.

Not really, having said that he passed vetting.

[Boiler]

We shall see but I reckon KS's days are numbered now, which is a pity.

Believe me, I am fucking boiling with rage. I so want this not to be the case.

[Killer Whale]

Aren't they just allowed to say that they thought a corrupt insider was the perfect fit to work with the Trump administration? That's clearly what was behind all of this.

Not really, having said that he passed vetting.

It wasn't an entirely serious comment.

I think he'll have to go. Which is bad. But if Cooper has to go, too, it's an absolute disaster.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Fair enough, I should have understood your tone.

It's possible that Starmer didn't know, and that Robbins and Cooper did. But I don't think Starmer can stay while she resigns.

One thing that suggests to me Starmer may not have known is that Robbins would have had to go through Chris Wormald. But Starmer sacked Wormald, which would be a brave call if Wormald could force Starmer out.

Robbins has been summoned to the Select Committee. I wonder if Starmer and Cooper can even last that long.

[Tubby Isaacs]

No 10 says Starmer didn't know he'd failed vetting till this week, and that he sought to find out why so he could update the Commons.

It sounds like quite the thing for Olly Robbins to overule of his own bat and not tell the Prime Minister or (one presumes) the Cabinet Secretary. Most likely explanation is that someone dropped a hint that they wanted Mandelson passed.

[davidjay]

If I was Starmer I'd be thinking fuck this for a game of soldiers. It gets more like A Very British Coup all the time.

[Youngian]

Leadership's forged in crisis and this is flimsy small beer compared to the geopolitical fuck ups Starmer has on his in-tray.
And why is Yvette Cooper the FS? An experienced and often effective operator but nothing in her background suggests she's had much interest in foreign affairs.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah compared with joining Trump bombing Tehran, as a Badenoch and Farage wanted, would have been in a different league.

But misleading Parliament on something everyone understands is fatal.

[kreuzberger]

He just wanted (past tense used guardedly) to get the house in order. A good man brought down by the very worst of men.

It's not that he actively sought them out, of course he didn't and has been dealt an impossible hand in a world where, quite suddenly, rules and decency are of no prized value, even if they exist at all. This is the new normal. It is just what happens; Icarus, dogs, fleas.

[davidjay]

A Tory Prime Minister can lie to the queen and it's all a bit of a giggle

[Boiler]

My visceral hatred of Cooper is such that I hope her exit from politics is as ignominious as possible, but to lose Starmer after fourteen years of Tory fuckwits would be beyond depressing. BTL on the Heil has the usual "Boris was booted for a slice of cake!" comments (with a few saying "no, it was how he handled Pincher") and this is just more ammo for both sides, left and right.

Best not say what I wish upon Mandelson.

I hope Starmer survives, but I think he may have used up all his political lives. Kreuzy has summed it up well: a decent man in a now-indecent world. Announcement over the weekend? Hope not.

[Boiler]

A Tory Prime Minister can lie to the queen and it's all a bit of a giggle

And a Tory Chancellor can get a fit of the giggles at her funeral.

[The Weeping Angel]