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Camilla Turner Sunday Political Editor |
For a Prime Minister who loves nothing more than to follow the rules, it seems ironic that this may well be his downfall.
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly claimed that “due process” was followed when it came to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.
Now we know that Lord Mandelson had in fact failed his security vetting – and Downing Street is panicking.
As Sir Keir prepares for a make-or-break Commons appearance to explain himself, he faces accusations of a cover-up over the vetting scandal and a battle to save his premiership.
The Prime Minister has insisted that nobody in Downing Street was aware that Lord Mandelson was made US ambassador despite failing security vetting.
Starmer with Dame Antonia Romeo, who has been Cabinet Secretary since February |
However, critics have questioned his defence after it emerged that his Cabinet Secretary and other senior officials were in fact aware of the decision for weeks before it was made public.
Sir Keir’s top aides are now locked in crisis talks over whether he needs to admit that he misled the House of Commons when he makes a statement to Parliament tomorrow.
It is understood that the Prime Minister acknowledges that he did not give MPs the “full picture” on Lord Mandelson’s appointment, but he has not admitted that he misled the House.
“The PM clearly feels that he wasn’t given the full picture so therefore wasn’t able to give Parliament the full picture,” a Downing Street source said.
Misleading the House would constitute a breach of the ministerial code, something which he has repeatedly called for ministers to resign over. Continue reading ➤ |
Through his ‘sheer bloody-mindedness’, Ed Miliband has a reputation within Government for getting things done |
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Matt Oliver Industry Editor |
In a Government that’s infamous for its policy reversals, one unlikely figure has repeatedly shown he’s not for turning.
Ed Miliband, the ukulele-strumming ex-Labour leader, has emerged as one of the party’s biggest beasts through championing net zero policies that delight his supporters and enrage his enemies.
The Energy Secretary, tasked with overseeing Sir Keir Starmer’s mission to generate 95 per cent of power from clean energy sources by 2030, is sometimes described as the only Cabinet minister who is actually getting anything done.
He has been signing off controversial plans for wind farms, solar farms, battery parks and nuclear power stations with the urgency of someone watching the clock.
It’s a stark turnaround in fortunes for a man who suffered a humiliating election defeat in 2015 and later concluded he’d been too timid. No one could claim Miliband is that today.
Ed Miliband had Labour’s 2015 election pledges carved into what became known as the ‘Ed Stone’ |
Instead, critics accuse him of “eco-zealotry” and a “cult-like” devotion to net zero targets, even at the expense of British households.
Now, with Starmer’s premiership wobbling and the Government looking directionless, Miliband’s position looks stronger than ever. Some even suggest he may take a second tilt at the premiership himself.
So just how did the man behind the “Ed Stone” end up becoming Labour’s North Star?
This essay is available to subscribers only.
Continue reading ➤ |
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Camilla Tominey Overcomplicated protections against scammers don’t make us safer Continue reading ➤
Jake Wallis Simons The West is losing its moral compass Continue reading ➤
Jamie Carragher Finishing second is a failure – Arsenal would be the most criticised runners-up in history Continue reading ➤ |
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Donald Trump spent years criticising the nuclear agreement signed with Iran by Barack Obama. The JCPOA was “horrible”, “one-sided” and the “worst deal in history”, he said. Now the president is on the verge of signing a weaker deal to get out of the war he started in Iran, says Lord Hammond, the former foreign secretary who helped to shape the 2015 deal, in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. Continue reading ➤ |
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Writer Della Galton, at her home in Shaftesbury, Dorset |
Since she started drinking cider behind the school bike shed, Della Galton, 61, knew she was an outlier when it came to alcohol. Despite being a successful fiction writer, her life was punctuated by hangovers, blackouts, and embarrassing encounters. Now 20 years sober, she reveals the moment she knew she needed to change and shares her tips on how you can change your relationship with alcohol. Continue reading ➤ |
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The AI revolution has hit GP surgeries, but instead of speeding things up, it has made getting a doctor’s appointment “unobtainable” for millions of people. The Telegraph has uncovered countless problems with the AI system that have left patients and staff infuriated, including a lack of empathy, being hung up on and not being understood. Continue reading ➤ |
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In June 1945, 20-year-old Mervyn Harold Payne, Acting Sub-Lieutenant of the Supermarine Seafire, vanished over the vast Chuuk Lagoon in the Pacific. Flying his first operational mission, the mischievous young pilot disappeared into a “solid wall of black cloud”. For decades, his family endured the agony of a missing-in-action notice, haunted by contradictory accounts of anti-aircraft fire and catastrophic wing failure. Now, deep beneath the coral reefs, high-tech underwater drones are hunting for the truth. Continue reading ➤ |
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When the Sussexes announced their royal exit, the late Queen privately noted they would not return for one telling reason: “They took the dogs.” Hardman, an expert on the Royal family, reveals the monarch’s deep sadness over the couple’s departure. He also uncovers the late Queen’s “sparkly” private side, detailing an unexpected verdict on Donald Trump and her remarkably unfazed reaction to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s violent outburst. For subscribers only ➤ |
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The Telegraph’s fashion team runs through the dresses to see you through the season (without falling back on the familiar old floral variety). From sleek shirt dresses to a lighter interpretation of the Little Black Dress, our experts finesse a fresh approach to warmer weather dressing. Continue reading ➤
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Gastropubs are a stain on the reputation of British boozersEvery week, one of our writers takes an unfashionable position, either defending a subject that’s been unfairly maligned or criticising something that most people love.
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Abigail Buchanan Features Writer |
If there is one thing Britain does incredibly well, it is the pub. Quantity and quality of boozers are perhaps two of the remaining categories in which our fair island is still far and away a world leader.
Yet, over the past three decades, we have allowed something terrible to creep in and challenge our reputation as the country with the best pubs. That terrible thing is the gastropub.
There’s the name, for starters. Gastropub. I hear this ghastly portmanteau and I think of gastrointestinal illness or gastric bypass surgery, not somewhere I want to spend the evening. I know I’m not the first to have pointed this out.
A caveat: I am not complaining about pubs that just happen to serve some food – in fact, quite the opposite. There are few greater joys in life than a humble bowl of chips and a pint.
It must also be said that there are exceptions to the rule. Some pubs serve “proper” restaurant-style food and do it very well (The Eagle, the original gastropub, in Farringdon, London is one such example). The trouble is that nowadays they are relatively few and far between.
More often than not, when I think of a “gastropub”, I think of the pub that has colonised your beloved local boozer and turned it into a soulless canteen that charges £8 for a scotch egg.
These pubs masquerade as independent, with tongue and groove panelling painted in Farrow and Ball, yet the mandatory calorie counts on the menu let you know they’re actually part of a vast chain. The “hand-cut” chips and chalkboard specials aren’t fooling me.
Which brings me to the food itself. They all serve the same sub-standard pub grub – a burger, fish and chips and usually a curry – yet charge restaurant prices for a meal that is nowhere nearly as good. To make it worse, you probably have to order at the bar.
On Sundays, there will inevitably be a £25 roast dinner, one element of which will always be the wrong temperature. At some, the food isn’t even made on site. Almost any other local restaurant would be a better option. Or just stick a chicken in the oven at home.
I also harbour sentimental feelings for a good old-fashioned carpeted boozer, the kind that only serves pork scratchings and sandwiches. Those pubs have become a rare breed. They risk dying out entirely unless something is done.
Crucially, you should be able to go for a casual drink at a pub without feeling like you have to order a sharing board. Dining may not be compulsory, but when there are only a handful of barstools reserved for those who aren’t eating, it feels like it is.
I take heart from the fact that the term “gastropub” has at least become deeply unfashionable. Even the publicans are distancing themselves from it. Oisín Rogers, co-founder of the Devonshire, London’s trendiest pub, said last year that he refuses to use the word as “it doesn’t mean anything anymore”.
A pub can be a good public house or a good restaurant; very rarely can it be both. Bring back the pork scratchings.
Do you agree with Abigail? Send your replies here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
Dr Paul Knapman’s colleagues liked him for his quirks |
Dr Paul Knapman, who has died aged 81, was the Westminster coroner who presided over high-profile cases such as the Marchioness riverboat disaster, the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy and the Clapham rail disaster, writes Chris Maume, Deputy Obituaries Editor.
His first big case after he took over in 1981 was the shooting of five gunmen by the SAS during the Iranian embassy siege. When the jury took 55 minutes to decide the killings were justifiable homicide, he told them: “I am surprised it has taken you so long.”
The son of an optician, he entered the law after a childhood marked by his passion for the Sherlock Holmes stories. A gregarious member of the Athenaeum, where he strode every day across St James’s Park for lunch, he was a stickler for ceremony, and at work he insisted his junior staff wear jackets even at their desk – but many of his colleagues liked him for his quirks.
Police at the scene as the Marchioness pleasure boat is raised and refloated in August 1989: in the aftermath, Knapman was accused of arrogance |
He came unstuck when presiding over the Marchioness disaster when he authorised the amputation of the hands of many of the 51 young victims – though it was a common practice in the days before DNA testing – and he was criticised for refusing to open the inquest.
Among his other inquests were the deaths of Paula Yates, Alexander McQueen and Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, and soldiers killed in Iran and Afghanistan. Read more about his fascinating life here ➤ |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was EDUCATIVE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Allister Heath, Sunday Telegraph Editor
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