Mailwatch(ed) Forum

I've been reminded of Allegra Stratton being forced to resign. I don't recall Bozo stepping up and saying "Hey, Allegra, you only made a joke, you stay I'll front this out!"

And, you know, I didn't expect Bozo to do that. It's politics- the PM has responsibility across the board, Stratton didn't, and she took the bullet. That's politics, always has been, Lord Carrington took a bullet for Thatcher when the Falklands was invaded. Leon Brittan took a bullet for Thatcher over Westland. Norman Lamont took a bullet (not very contentedly) for John Major over devaluation. James Callaghan took a bullet for Harold Wilson over devaluation, if you want to go further back. Amber Rudd took a bullet for Theresa May over Windrush.

This narrative that it's a particular character failure of Starmer to sack Robbins is such bullshit.

Just in case Simon Hart looked too partisan, here's Kiran Stacey with analysis, to make the same "like Bozo" point.

Partygate v Mandelson: Keir Starmer faces attack from his own playbook
Kiran Stacey
Policy editor

Johnson was ousted in the wake of allegations that he had attended parties in Downing Street during a pandemic lockdown he presided over. Starmer is alleged to have allowed his officials to bypass normal security vetting procedures to install the Labour veteran Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, as revealed by a Guardian investigation last week.

Johnson wasn't ousted for that, and there was endemic law breaking- he did attend these events, nobody seriously argues he didn't. Nobody's accusing Starmer of lawbreaking. Note how "Mandelson failed vetting (and Starmer must have known)" has been cunningly shifted to "allegations that he allowed his officials to bypass normal procedures". What does that even mean? His officials didn't have control of the vetting process, as Olly Robbins made clear. That went ahead as normal.

This is dreadful stuff. Stacey, Elgot and Crerar and their editors have lost their minds. Hysteria for a week, leading to nothing much.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... n-playbook