Olly Robbins has just nuked the premiership of Sir Keir Starmer

[ProudAmberTurtle]

What are the implications of Olly Robbins’s testimony for Starmer?

There was so much in his testimony that was damaging but surely the worst was that:

• He was instructed by No. 10 to find an ambassador's job for Starmer's then director of communications, Matthew Doyle
• He was told not to tell the foreign secretary about this
• Robbins considered leaving his role because this request was so unusual and inappropriate
• Doyle was then suspended from the Labour Party due to his links with a convicted paedophile (not Epstein).

And on Mandelson, he said there was "constant pressure" for him to fast-track the appointment, there was no interest in the vetting from the PM, concerns about the vetting were dismissed by No. 10 and Mandelson had already been given IT access that should only have been granted after the vetting process.

What can Starmer do now? Say Robbins was lying?

The point is obviously that Reform are trying to appropriate St George’s Day. Hitler appropriated the Swastika (I know, I know, that is a cheap shot). But the Swastika was around for thousands of years across different religions with a completely different meaning. Appropritation of flags, jargon, symbols is a classic move on the right.

And it is just interesting that the UN celebrates 23 April as follows:
“Celebrating the English language at the United Nations
English Language Day at the United Nations is celebrated on the 23rd of April — the date traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. As well as being the English language's most famous playwright, Shakespeare had a significant impact on modern-day English. Shakespeare's creativity with language meant he contributed hundreds of new words and phrases: 'gossip'; 'fashionable' and 'lonely' were all first used by Shakespeare. He also invented phrases like 'break the ice', 'faint-hearted' and 'love is blind'.
English is one of the languages of international communication. People from different countries and cultures are increasingly able to communicate with each other in English, even if it is not their first language. This makes it an essential tool for global cooperation and diplomacy.
At the United Nations, English is one of the two working languages, along with French.”

I actually asked one of my DC a couple of years ago on St George’s day to raise at school (state primary) that it is linked to Shakespeare and their teacher had no clue about the link to Shakespeare! (And I promise this teacher is deputy and amazing). DC is a scout so St George’s day to them is associated with scouting and we talked about Shakespeare too.

It is just a different perspective on things. I think we can agree with the English national identity point especially post Blair devolution of power so I guess I was thinking about different perspectives to 23 April that may suit different political perspectives, including non religious ones.

I rather like the idea of English language day. Great link with Shakespeare but it will be Easter some years.