Starmer faces 'cover-up' claims as chief aide's Mandelson messages 'were on stolen phone'
Keir Starmer is facing claims of a cover-up today after it emerged his chief aide's messages to Mandelson have gone missing.
Discussions between Morgan McSweeney and the peer were apparently on a mobile phone that has been stolen.
That means some information cannot be retrieved to be published with a swathe of other material about Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.
It all sounds very casual and certainly doesn't come across as joined-up government, but the whole appointment process seems to have been casual. Especially when Keir Starmer is so keen to stress that processes have been followed after previous debacles.
Maybe Starmer could try asking Xi Jinping if they have the phone and can we have it back if they have finished laughing at the contents.
When I was late for primary school I said "Miss, Miss, a dog followed me and I thought I'd better take it back to its owner."
ReplyDeleteYou write - "It all sounds very casual and .......".
ReplyDeleteI prefer - "It all sounds very fishy and .....".
"...but the whole appointment process seems to have been casual. "
ReplyDeleteBut not so surprising if the appointment process was a paper exercise to validate a decision already made. In my opinion Mandelson is a 'fixer' and wanted the patronage of appointment as US ambassador to carry on his work as a fixer (and provide him with political cover perhaps?).
dearieme - I bet Miss said "oh that was kind, but so handy as you were late for school anyway."
ReplyDeleteDAD - yes, Starmer should have seen it as a fishy attempt to saddle him with an obviously dodgy appointment.
DJ - with his record, Mandelson must be very persuasive and very adept at presenting himself as a 'fixer'. His record ought to counteract that impression among professionals, but the appointment debacle suggests it didn't in Starmer's circle.
I turned up very early once. "Miss, Miss, I was chased by an angry swan." Perfectly true but I don't think Miss believed me. The world can be cruel.
DeleteSo the phone was stolen? We're the Police or phone service provider notified (making a false report of a crime is a criminal offence in itself)? If no report was made, it could be said to be proof of them lying though, being politicians, that would surprise nobody.I
ReplyDeletePenseivat
Penseivat - yes it all sounds very dubious. We might expect a phone with mildly sensitive government information on it to be some kind of official issue where the information is secured automatically and the phone can be trashed or traced remotely. Otherwise the whole place must leak like a sieve.
ReplyDeletedearieme - round here the response could be "Never mind me duck."
A stolen phone? How appropriate for men who stole the Country's future.
ReplyDeleteTammly - yes it is appropriate, pity it's only a phone they lost.
ReplyDelete