I completely agree Robin. We need an elected second house, combined with a scrapping of the current system which promotes seamless flows from politics, civil service and armed forces into jobs and incomes as “advisors” or “lobbyists”.
What I find most shocking in this and similar cases is how cheaply the British establishment can be bought.
One of the more obvious horrors of some recent governmnents is that rather than seeking advice from the Cabinet and the Civil Service, or even listening to their MPS, they have relied rather too extensively on a secretive clever spiv (cummings, mcsweeney. Previous PMs such as Wilson had what got called "kitchen cabinet" advisers. But recent PMs have appointed nodding dogs. Wilson, Macmillan, even Thatcher - had people near their equal in their cabinets and, according to my political/Civil Service friends, did ask and sometimes take the advice of these frequentlly very well informed people. Starmer is like Johnson, thinking he knows it all.
What would you call a senior Government minister who leaked sensitive government documents to a hostile power? A spy? A traitor?
You probably would not print the words I would use. And, to put it mildly, there are those spies who betray their country (in the EM Forster sense) for whom I have a smidgeon of sympathy: they believe, however wrongly, that the world will be a better place once they have done so. I can see no reason for Mandelson's pathetic betrayal except to curry favor with Epstein by giving him and his friends the means to make some serious $$$.
The notion that the unelected lords are somehow better than the rest of us should be swiftly swept under the rug and stepped on.
Agree. Our entire system is broken. Our politicians are not up to the job & haven’t been for a very long time. Monarchy if it is to survive must modernise, slim down & be more transparent
Good article, but I suspect Peter Mandelson would have gotten access to power and privileged information in some guise in any case, maybe as a chief of staff at a No. 10, once Gordon Brown has decided to bring him back.
Reforming the Lords is a must but it would not have helped in this case.
Reforming the scond chamber is a must, but it is too tempting a useful solution fir PMs keen by to reward mates or sideline the inconvenient. Cutting the day rate by 2thirds would be a start. I always found Mandelston to be very creepy when I worked for the Labour Party in the. 90s. Not a man I wouId ever want to get close to. He traded on his links to grandad Herbert Morrison, and was not averse to feathering his own nest as his previous resignations attest. Significant perhaps that police have had to raid his homes (plural).
I completely agree Robin. We need an elected second house, combined with a scrapping of the current system which promotes seamless flows from politics, civil service and armed forces into jobs and incomes as “advisors” or “lobbyists”.
What I find most shocking in this and similar cases is how cheaply the British establishment can be bought.
One of the more obvious horrors of some recent governmnents is that rather than seeking advice from the Cabinet and the Civil Service, or even listening to their MPS, they have relied rather too extensively on a secretive clever spiv (cummings, mcsweeney. Previous PMs such as Wilson had what got called "kitchen cabinet" advisers. But recent PMs have appointed nodding dogs. Wilson, Macmillan, even Thatcher - had people near their equal in their cabinets and, according to my political/Civil Service friends, did ask and sometimes take the advice of these frequentlly very well informed people. Starmer is like Johnson, thinking he knows it all.
What would you call a senior Government minister who leaked sensitive government documents to a hostile power? A spy? A traitor?
You probably would not print the words I would use. And, to put it mildly, there are those spies who betray their country (in the EM Forster sense) for whom I have a smidgeon of sympathy: they believe, however wrongly, that the world will be a better place once they have done so. I can see no reason for Mandelson's pathetic betrayal except to curry favor with Epstein by giving him and his friends the means to make some serious $$$.
The notion that the unelected lords are somehow better than the rest of us should be swiftly swept under the rug and stepped on.
I'd call him an unbelievably stupid, self-deluding and therefore dangerous operator.
Feels like we're still just at the tip of the iceberg...
Agree. Our entire system is broken. Our politicians are not up to the job & haven’t been for a very long time. Monarchy if it is to survive must modernise, slim down & be more transparent
Spot on. Lucidly argued as always. Kudos.
Turns out a traitor in English law is someone who attacks the monarch/monarchy. So he would by a spy.
Good article, but I suspect Peter Mandelson would have gotten access to power and privileged information in some guise in any case, maybe as a chief of staff at a No. 10, once Gordon Brown has decided to bring him back.
Reforming the Lords is a must but it would not have helped in this case.
Good thinking Robin;
Reforming the scond chamber is a must, but it is too tempting a useful solution fir PMs keen by to reward mates or sideline the inconvenient. Cutting the day rate by 2thirds would be a start. I always found Mandelston to be very creepy when I worked for the Labour Party in the. 90s. Not a man I wouId ever want to get close to. He traded on his links to grandad Herbert Morrison, and was not averse to feathering his own nest as his previous resignations attest. Significant perhaps that police have had to raid his homes (plural).
Follow the money.
And broaden the houses intake.