Lovely as it is for Trump to have his arse served to him on a plate in his own house, it is a bit much for Charles, author of the black spider memos, to lecture anyone on democracy and the separation of powers

Someone get Karen on a plane to DC www.gov.uk/government/p...

** Travels back in time to 2024 ** “No, you’re just going to have to trust me on this - making Nigel Farage ambassador to the US could just work.”

Morgan McSweeney confirms that Mandelson and George Osborne were the two choices for ambassador to the US, suggesting that everyone in No10 must have been smoking crack.

“People talk about international diplomacy as a game of chess. It’s more like billiards” - Madeline Albright.

Must be something to do with the weather turning warm, but puritan killjoys seem to be emerging from hibernation all over the place www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...

The decision of Piers Morgan to let this play out and keep filming is a spectacular bit of comedy of embarrassment. An anxiety dream of comedy.

Friday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

Ed Davey canoeing through the Strait of Hormuz to draw attention to the Lib Dems '10p off a litre' fuel policy h/t @worgztheowl.bsky.social

Back of fag packet maths, just over 32,000 schools in the UK, average cost of portraits in 2024 voluntary scheme was £131, would mean just under £4.2m spent on pictures of Chuck's mug in schools, though that would require acquiescence from devolved governments.

Oops

FBI began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau's director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/us...

Truth Social replaces a former California congressman, Devin Nunes, as leader of the media platform after a stock collapse in the past year wiped out $6 billion in investor wealth. www.globenewswire.com/news-release...

oh hang on, 4 fronts - that someone in no 10 was angling for a head of mission, ie diplomat, job Matthew Doyle (head of comms sacked by PM, v much not a career diplomat, bonkers idea ) which suggests they saw diplomatic service as somewhere you could park people you sort of owed one.

A fair amount of 'Starmer must quit' stuff in my timeline from Labour people but without any sensible suggestions for a replacement Rayner: tax affairs hanging over her Streeting: Mandelson links and a tiny majority Burnham: no seat and hasn't had a top job for 16 years

Ouch, Robbins says there was discussion in No10 as to whether Mandelson, as a peer, needed to be vetted *at all* for the job of ambassador to the US

Olly Robbins tells Foreign Affairs Committee that when he took up his FCDO post he found a 'dismissive attitude' to the vetting process with the aim of getting Mandelson to Washington 'as quickly as possible'.

Olly Robbins is up

ONS says the surprise fall in the unemployment rate reflects rising inactivity - particularly people becoming students - rather than rising employment.

Keir Starmer repeats line first taken by Lammy and Kendall yesterday, saying he would have blocked Mandelson from taking up UK ambo role if he knew he failed vetting, even though he had publicly announced it.

Keir Starmer: I have changed the process so that the barn door must be closed before the horse has bolted

Angry Keir Starmer tells MPs it was 'staggering' that Olly Robbins failed to tell him or any other ministers about problems with Peter Mandelson's security vetting...

BRB, just telling my stockbroker to go big on Hot-Dog man memes

Former Musk fanboy Nigel Farage branded X 'a very unpleasant and dangerous place' today as he hit out at racist abuse faced by non-white Reform election candidates on the platform.

Other potential factor - said for a while now the public most seem to like politicians who look like they enjoy the job (Rayner, Burnham, Johnson etc). Farage has always looked like he loved campaigning, but clips cutting through recently are those of him looking grumpy/snappy with journalists.

"While the party is traditionally in favour of renewables, she said she was opposed to "industrial scale energy infrastructure schemes"…" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The same Sir Adrian Fulford currently charing the Southport Inquiry? Retired makes it sound like he has more time on his hands for this than I imagine he actually does...

Starmer not being told about Mandelson failing vetting is one thing, him not asking if he passed is another.

NEW: Foreign Affairs Committee asks Olly Robbins if he'd like to come have a little chat on Tuesday next week re mandelson

EXCL: Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to US - a Guardian investigation by Paul Lewis @direthoughts.com & me www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Capping food prices so people can afford a 'balanced diet' but not mentioning fruit or veg 🤷‍♂️

It’s lovely that someone is actually asking, in all seriousness, whether the Pope is actually a Catholic.

Folks, I think the word we want here is “Vansplaining”.

We don't know how much Reform-run KCC sold this off for, but they flogged off about 100 works of council-owned art in March for just £32,000. Once they're gone from public hands, they're gone. £32,000 would barely cover an admin assistant for a year (when you inc. pension & emp taxes).

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins hits back at complaints of 'complacency' about military spending made by Lord Robertson, the former minister and Nato SG. First Sea Lord tells Defence Committee: ‘I see no sign of complacency among anybody that I work with or provide advice to.’

Very good thread on the state of UK counter-terror efforts

Cocaine users may be snorting as much as 130 tonnes of the Class A drug worth almost £10bn a year in England alone, a new study of sewage suggests www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Nothing new in politics etc

Pope: not on the ropes ABOARD PAPAL PLANE, April 13 (Reuters) - Pope Leo told Reuters on Monday that he plans to continue speaking out against war after U.S. President Donald Trump's direct attack on the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church.

Crispin Odey has dropped his £79mn libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, acknowledging that the FT would win in its defence.  www.ft.com/content/6966...

Quite a moment: Melania becomes the first member of the administration trying to distract the public’s attention back to Epstein in order to get them to stop talking about Iran.

Another day of the Hormuz Hokey-Cokey: Schrödinger's Ceasefire US rejects Iran toll plan Trump backs Iran toll plan UK rejects Iran toll plan Iran closes Hormuz Trump threatens new fighting

Starmer suggests US talk of Hormuz being open for business might be a bit premature www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Hegseth tells families of US service personnel killed in Iran conflict they died for an 'historic cause'

Hegseth currently giving a press conference that is up there with anything done by Comical Ali during the invasion of Iraq (for my older followers)

YouGov prompt for Restore and get 4%, predominantly from Reform voters Reform 2024 split is Reform 75% Restore 15% Con 5% Lab 2% LD 1% Green 1% yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

Lars Jensen (ex-Maersk) pouring cold water on Trump's ceasefire, saying firms may get ships out of Gulf but won't trust it enough to send ships in - and warns paying Iran a toll could leave them in breach of sanctions

If US politics had discovered the concept of object permanence, he'd be fucked. Alas...