Tom Griffin

A timely warning here...

This fundamentally is the problem with a large part of the Labour Party: it has set itself against a large part of the core vote of a 21st century social democratic party, partly due to an incapability to parse such positions as existing and having merit outwith their narrow factionalism

As Jonathan Powell wrote in his terrific book: “for the first few years, the press didn’t even have a photo of me”.

A very eye-opening follow-up: the account owner openly admits they were posting hateful content simply to develop, and monetise, a big TikTok account bsky.app/profile/jim....

Dumb question: This scandal, considered seismic in Britain, is really about Mandelson leaking confidential, market-moving govt information to Epstein amid the 2008 financial crisis, which Epstein in turn passed to JP Morgan, including advice to Jamie Dimon.

Why is this not hitting Jamie Dimon?

A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: statement and accompanying consultation on earned settlement (accessible)

The government’s consultation on its proposed settlement proposals closes on Thursday. Over 130,000 responses had been received with a week to go & 232,000 people and 107,000 people signed two petitions about this debated in Westminster Hall on Mondsy
www.gov.uk/government/c...

Gordon Brown ‘deeply regrets’ bringing Peter Mandelson into his government Former prime minister says revelations about Epstein’s influence on UK politics caused him revulsion

NEW: Gordon Brown has said he deeply regrets bringing Peter Mandelson into his government, saying Mandelson alleged actions as business secretary were “a betrayal of everything we stand for as a country”.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

To save the UK’s battered reputation for good governance, the government needs to go big on political reform The latest scandal to engulf Peter Mandelson shows how the UK Government needs to go harder and faster to stop the rot in politics.

🆕"Mr Mandelson is a symptom and not the cause of the current rot and reform must go beyond just removing titles."

Head of Research & Investigations, @stevejgoodrich.bsky.social, on what needs to be done to save the UK’s battered reputation for good governance.

Another datapoint that indicates how a Downing Street operation overseen by Sue Gray might have avoided some of the blunders that Morgan McSweeney has charged straight into
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Exclusive: Reform UK just broke electoral law in Gorton and Denton People across the constituency thought they were getting a letter from a concerned pensioner, they didn’t know she was working for Reform

Leaflet wars just stepped up a gear: Mill reveal Reform UK have broken electoral law manchestermill.co.uk/exclusive-re...

Facing high Trump tariffs, Africa's leading economy says it's close to a new trade deal with China China and South Africa have signed a framework agreement for a new trade deal. It shows how Africa’s leading economy is looking for other options following the high U.S. import tariffs imposed on it b...

The major flaw with the claim that Trump's foreign policy is "realist" is the fact that it is so deeply ideological. There is no "realist" case for driving South Africa into China's embrace, rather than competing for its partnership. The only reason Trump is doing so is based on racist memes.

Mandelson case tests Westminster intelligence oversight MPs give new mandate to Intelligence and Security Committee

New post - Mandelson case tests Westminster intelligence oversight
intelligencehistory.substack.com/p/mandelson-...

I think the problem with this approach is the power of US money rapidly makes them the only ideological show in town on the right, and then regardless of domestic opposition to MAGA, you are one bad economic run from them getting power.

We must deal a corrupt system, not just a person who abused it MPs must match their justified outrage over Peter Mandelson with meaningful action to break the link between wealth, power, and access.

🆕"Buried within the Mandelson case are uncomfortable but unavoidable questions about the proximity of wealth and power."

Duncan Hames in PoliticsHome on why we owe it to the victims of this story to challenge the power structuresthat meant their abusers thought they could carry on with impunity.

Calls to halt UK Palantir contracts grow amid ‘lack of transparency’ over deals Opposition MPs urge Labour to pause public contracts with the US tech firm after attempts to examine deals blocked

Recognizing the centrality of Peter Thiel and Palantir to the Epstein files, Britons protest against Palantir and demand revocation of government contracts with the company. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

A bizarre feature of British politics in the long 21st century is that the popular discourse around MPs all being mindless whip-fodder has grown exponentially during a period of historically almost unprecedented levels of backbench rebellions and indiscipline.

One of the most striking facts of this Parliament is how independent-minded the PLP have been, more or less from the off.

5/5 PMs with approval ratings of measles isn't just a feature of failed leadership. It's Brexit Britain. There's no money for anything people want and were promised they would have, and no one can blame the people who got us into this mess because they got 52% of the vote (let alone reverse it).

Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use it.

BREAKING: McSweeney’s think tank paid PR firm to investigate journalists Labour Together put private investigators onto journalists writing about its funding. Starmer's right-hand man knew.

great thread from him here:

🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists digging into its undeclared funding

Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian etc targetted

*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe State department grants to spread ‘American values’ are part of Washington’s 250th anniversary celebrations

US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe ft.trib.al/rg4IDIC

Nigel Farage tells GB News that Keir Starmer's decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador shows his judgement is "seriously wrong" and he should stand down as Prime Minister.

Here's what Farage said when Mandelson was appointed

This raises the question whether Trump simply forgot that he already did this some time ago. Before Farage convinced him to take the opposite view only for Starmer to convince him to go back to the original view /1

The ISC might argue that this will be a relatively quick release ("very shortly") but sources saying the opposite. One saying it will be an "iterative" process between ISC and Cab Sec

The two page (ish) dossier pulled together by PET based on public domain info is likely to be released first

PSNI curbs migrant victims’ data sharing with Home Office after ‘institutional racism’ concerns

NEW: Police in Northern Ireland will curb sharing data on migrant victims of crime with UK immigration enforcement, after admitting that routine sharing “could be perceived as constituting institutional racism”.

great column by Juliet Samuel about the delusions of grandeur afflicting the once-in-office, the doomed reach for relevance and status www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

it is never about you, but your office: tattoo that onto every departing politico

Peter Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up advisory firm Emails from 2010 show former UK minister asking child sex offender how to win political and corporate clients

EXCLUSIVE:

Peter Mandelson sought advice from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up his advisory firm, Global Counsel, including how to target potential new clients such as the Chinese government.

www.ft.com/content/13d2...

This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...

It’s bad that the newspaper sector increasingly needs to be funded by philanthropy, a bit like think tanks.

It’s doubly bad because that kind of philanthropic funding has been drifting towards the authoritarian right.

This is the basis for my Ed Miliband propaganda.

Is he the perfect candidate? No.

Does he, out of the viable options, have by far the most consistent, convincing and deliverable worldview and agenda? Yes.