Presumably Starmer never prosecuted anyone who [checks notes] *denied it* www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Oh, the old completely made up role of de facto deputy, so loved by hacks. Starmer has a deputy pm; Labour has a deputy leader, but Starmer needs a de facto deputy, apparently. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Is this the boss of the firm that promises loads of new jobs from new stores and then fills them with self service checkouts? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

On my Transport Insights blog, I have a look at a story and parliamentary question about an apparent anomaly in the Department for Transport's budget. I think I may have cracked the mystery, but what do you think? transportinsights.blog/2026/02/09/d...

“Mr Streeting’s decision to publish his own messages with Lord Mandelson has been interpreted as a fresh attempt to secure pole position in a future leadership race, after weeks of speculation that he would challenge Sir Keir.”😂😂

How can anyone think this is all a media concoction when the cabinet secretary has resigned? Oh, wait…

Wes Streeting, once close to Mandelson, no longer calls himself a Blairite, but a “progressive” or a member of the “new right”. Imagine being so dumb as to fall for this 🙃 www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

As we remember that Blairite Mandelson magically got through the vetting process by the cunning ruse of lying, we note that Blairite Streeting, who wasn’t a close friend of Mandelson, says exactly what Mandelson would say if he was in Streeting’s position. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

When he ran Labour Together, Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons hired a PR firm to investigate journalists After our revelations, and a flurry of news stories, Simons finally gave his side of the story But it doesn't seem to tally with the facts... 🧵 democracyforsale.substack.com/p/mcsweeney-...

Did he though? Or is that what those lying spin doctors said? www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

To be fair to Starmer, not only did it not occur to him that Mandelson, the most devious snake in British politics for the last 4 decades, might lie to him, he didn’t realise that Labour Together were a nasty, divisive faction because they called themselves Labour Together.

I see the guardian has been fed another “exclusive” story about a crackdown on bonuses. Feargal Sharkey, the water campaigner and former frontman of the Undertones, said the bonus loopholes were evident before the legislation was passed. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

1) this is a classic distraction 2) how tf can sources “call for” anything? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

On safety, they show a very mixed bag but: "The reports display a remarkable lack of curiosity over how the danger has increased from vehicles stopped in live running lanes … they raise more questions than they answer." Chris Todd, Director of TAN They provide little or no KSI data either

Finally the DfT has published the much delayed 16 'smart' motorway reports These show what a colossal waste of time and money these have been and harm they've caused the economy. Justified on basis of National Highways' dodgy traffic models www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Folding cash says that we will continue to hear that news organisations "understand" that Mandelson is denying things. Perhaps also that he will have "told friends" about his innocence. bsky.app/profile/sund...

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport (DfT) said it was working to "provide guidance for local authorities to find alternative ways to progress accessibility improvements". Guidance? Ffs do something. You own the network www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well, the “watchdog” would say that, wouldn’t it? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A DfT spokesperson said: “These reports show that smart motorways can make journeys reliable and increase road capacity, so more vehicles can travel safely.” Can! Can! Can does not mean do! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Barclays cuts ties with Mandelson lobbying firm. Vodafone may too. This is public posturing, isn't it. For years they used Mandelson to gain political advantage despite his history - forced to resign as minister, ambassador, his links with Epstein were known. Now trying to reinvent themselves.

The suppression until now of the POPE reports on smart motorways can now be conclusively called out as an attempt to bury - or at least delay - bad news, given what the reports show. transportinsights.blog/2026/02/06/a...

"Sources close to McSweeney said he had not taken the decision to hire APCO and it was a matter for Labour Together." ffs, yet another non denial from an anonymous source that is not worth the paper it's not written on. Deny it on the record or stfu. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

More on this soon. The AA has issued a press release with Edmund King calling (all lane running) smart motorways "a catastrophic waste of time, money and effort".

Who is Paul Ovenden and how did such a nationalist reactionary end up in a serious position in a Labour government? Just reading his article for last week's New Statesman, and it reveals a level of ignorance about the world that is dismal if unsurprising.

National Highways has released a batch of evaluations of smart motorways that the Department for Transport stopped it publishing. The company buried increases in fatalities from one scheme by comparing a five-year period beforehand with three years afterwards. transportinsights.blog/2026/02/05/p...

A non apology, if ever I heard one. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Hapless Simon Lightwood has taken a break from telling fibs about why the Department for Transport is blocking publication of 14 evaluations of smart motorways to avoid answering a question about the impact of giving away billions in Dartford Crossing revenue. transportinsights.blog/2026/02/05/l...

Apparently, ministers are victims of Mandelson and we should feel sorry for him: Reed told Sky News that the revelations about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein had felt like he had “been punched in the stomach”. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Do they understand how mad they sound? As if anyone has ever decided to cross the Channel in a small boat because, if they make it, they might get to take a free taxi to a doctor's appointment? "Pull factors" on steroids. www.bbc.com/news/article...

No 10 said Starmer was referring only to what was in the public domain. “This was looked into as part of the appointment process as the prime minister referenced today,” the source said. Shocking journalism. (someone speaking on behalf of) No 10 is not a “source” www.the-guardian.com/politics/202...

Must admit, I’m not seeing loads of evidence of Morgan McSweeney being a master strategist atm

Toll charges from Kent's two main crossings will be pocketed by a private firm More here: www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/ne...

You have to be kidding. This must be the end for McSweeney, and probably Starmer. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

On my Transport Insights blog, I look at the latest push from @transportaction.bsky.social for transparency over smart motorways, including not suppressing evaluation reports and not pretending that the Lower Thames Crossing is not a smart motorway, when it is transportinsights.blog/2026/02/04/c...

Pretty understandable as to why people would say "they're all the same" at this point, and be right. No wonder Labour MPs are so angry. Number 10 has failed.

We are calling for the Department for Transport to come clean on ‘smart’ motorways! The DfT is misleading the public when it says no more ‘smart’ motorways are being built. The Lower Thames Crossing and M60 Simister Island are being built to ‘smart’ motorway standards.

This is disgraceful from Mason: “As for Lord Mandelson, he has not commented publicly. “I understand he maintains that he has not acted criminally, did not act for personal gain and will cooperate with the police.” If he won’t comment on the record, don’t spin for him www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"...that denial is on the record? Oh, it's not. Ok, well come back to us when it is." 💯 Reminder to hacks: "sources" cannot deny things. Right of reply does not apply to sources. Denials are on the record or they are not denials. Stop being conduits for spin. It's not difficult.

My next Hot Take is that you can trace quite a lot of the problems of politics to a willingness to let people say things they can then deny that they've said. There's a place for it, but journalists often do it to make themselves sound important.

I could not agree more with this. Mason and Zeffman are a disgrace to journalism. Stop letting crooks like Mandelson play this game.

Hot Take 2: if this is Mandelson's position, there is no reason for him not to issue a statement to this effect. If he has not issued a statement to this effect, the BBC's "understanding" of his actual position may be inaccurate. Stop letting people play this game.

Yes, everyone was entitled to expect that Mandelson would behave entirely honestly and honourably and not in a self-serving or corrupt way. Despite being, like Wes, an unreconstructed, old school Blairite. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

How is McSweeney still in a job? At this rate he’s going to overtake Sunak in terms of time as PM🙃

This is disgraceful from Mason: “As for Lord Mandelson, he has not commented publicly. “I understand he maintains that he has not acted criminally, did not act for personal gain and will cooperate with the police.” If he won’t comment on the record, don’t spin for him www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is pretty rich. The list of people who have a reasonable argument to get in the government’s face on this is long but surely does not include “the guy who brought him back after his last two scandals”.

Was it in the Gulf of Tonkin? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...