Thread 47 Starmer: Vai ficar tudo bem esta noite. Rock and roll.

[DuncinToffee]

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It's Friday, saw this...
(Nige has competition)

I just wanted to make you all aware of Captain Beany who is standing as a Senedd candidate in Port Talbot (more info in alt text).
https://bsky.app/profile/generalboles.bsky.social/post/3mjpiq75w6c2k

Firstly DV takes approx 12 months to complete, if they find a huge red flag they say no a little quicker. PM won’t have been appointed and had vetting done the next day.

people can still do the job they are appointed to in some areas , but won’t have full access - so completely possible to be allowed to start a job subject to obtaining vetting later.

secondly the entire process , what’s involved and who is aware of the result is completely classified and only those who hold vetting themselves should be aware. The rules are very strict on this and discussion of someone’s clearance level is not allowed!

i would imagine the officials who work in this adhered to those rules - they are strict and sharing a status is a serious breach.

Captain Beany! He often stands in elections locally.

Starmer is bent, and should resign.

That's an intelligent and informative contribution...

…and photos of ‘Captain Beany’ and random felines are?

Got it.

Dear visitor, if you think the felines are random, you really haven't been paying attention. They are the glue that holds these very long running, highly erudite and informed political threads together. If you don't like it, LIW thread is >>> that way.

Have you been at the sherry again?

@piggysorry about your visitors. My old cat was an absolute flea magnet. I ended up having pest control to do the house. Even with her flea treatment she would only need to step outside and the little feckers would find her.
hope you get it sorted soon.

Oh and in political news one of my town FB page are literally Reform/ Restore “let’s have it,” types. They constantly post reels or memes calling Starmer a “pedo” supporter and when called on it say ( I am not even joking here) judge a man by the company he keeps whilst telling me Farage is a man of the people 😳

Having clarified that Starmer was clearly not informed of the results of the vetting, I started thinking about it from the other direction.

If Obama or Biden had been president, there is not the slightest chance that Mandelson would have even been considered for the role. It's quite clear that it was only approved due to the "special circumstances" of having a demented orange narcissist as president that he was ever considered. And, of course, Bad Enoch and Fartage both thought it was a good idea at the time...

Vodka

‪Larry the Cat‬ ‪@number10cat.bsky.social‬
· 28m
Keir Starmer should go immediately...

...to the shops to buy me some cat treats.

@Piggywaspushed. I would ask your vet for a flea treatment with a different active ingredient. It may be that your local fleas have become resilient to whatever is in Bravecto.
And yes to Indorex everywhere, hoover for a few days and then repeat. (Can you tell I've been here before?)

I feel so (rationally or irrationally) angry at Starmer. He either knew about Mandelson security issue and lying, or he didn’t so appears incompetent.

The day that Mandelson went he should have had the authority that when he asked, he was told all the relevant information including the security failing not through a pile of documents but very specifically. Starmer was quite new at time of the appointment but well established at the resignation.

I so want this government to succeed so disappointed that all the good stuff is drowned with scandal.

Bravecto is new - the vet have stopped using Advantage.

Indorexed front room before bed last night. Rest of house planned today and hoovering. DH could do this while I am shopping but his hoovering is not the most thorough. I found a flea on my laptop last night!

From the BBC website
Sir Olly's predecessor Lord Simon McDonald has defended the senior official, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "No 10 wanted a scalp and wanted it quickly".
The former permanent secretary said Sir Olly had been "observing process according to law", and stressed that details from the "confidential" vetting process would "never be shared with No 10 or the prime minister".

I find this a bit odd. I work for a government ALB where the vast majority of staff are vetted (SC or DV). As a line manager I'm informed if a candidate has failed vetting. No details why of course - but we are told if it isn't a pass. If someone fails the required vetting for a role they don't get the role.

@Piggywaspushed- one of my cats was allergic to fleas - he was so sad 😞- not helped that his body weight didn’t allow full scratching. As well as the flea treatment from the vet he had a steroid needle - perked him up no end - thought he was god of our ‘castle’ not just king!

One of my daughter’s cats has a reaction as well so she’ll be scratching way after any flea has vacated her premises - eventually this was found and she had skin treatment and was bathed daily in it. She was already an angry tortitude cat and the baths didn’t improve her temper lol but it worked in the end and she is now scratching free if not that pleasant still lol.

I think it’s useful to have a flea attractor human in the home when you have cats - used to know before they got hold due to one of my kids - she couldn’t easily play out in grass though either - so useful for others and awful for the ones suffering the bites.

You wouldn’t be informed of the content of the assessment and any issues discussed though - or would you?

Robbins argument is that he followed the rules - issues were raised during vetting, the committee passed Mandelson (despite issues raised), Robbins informed Starmer of outcome.

So whatever discussed at committee are confidential (what goes on in FCDO, stays in FCDO) and are not shared beyond the committee.

So under this process you would be told pass/fail but nothing else.

I find it odd that other party leaders are, and never have been, aware of how DV works - or are they simply being disingenuous? Saw Kemi’s smirking accusation of Keir being a liar yesterday. I’m not sure what benefit she would have from removing him - and it would actually be a disaster for her if they randomly had a GE, which she knows won’t happen of course.

These games irritate me when there’s Trump to deal with and plenty of domestic bills to debate. Always party before country it seems.

Having said that I do think it was a poor move to employ PM - I just don’t think pretending vetting was Starmer’s personal admin task helps anything.

If I was being nice I might suggest there is a difference between ministerial & FCDO vetting procedures.

With a ministerial vetting Starmer would have been given more information. Robbins wouldn’t have been left as the arbiter.

Sorry - I meant maybe Badenoch confused the two.

But I’m not nice and I think Badenoch knows full well but realises the public are not interested in the arcane & labyrinthine procedures for appointing ambassadors.

I get badly bitten by fleas when I’m a bit late with the flea treatment for my 3 cats (I use Stronghold) whereas my DH isn’t bitten at all. The cats don’t suffer anywhere near as much as I do! So I’m the flipping flea magnet. 🤣

@Notonthestairs You wouldn’t be informed of the content of the assessment and any issues discussed though - or would you?

No - absolutely not - but we do get informed of the pass/fail result.

I think the difference here is that apparently the FO went against (ignored?) the advice of UKSV.
As far as I'm aware for the organisation I'm in there would be no exceptions to the UKSV findings.