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#1
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 08:02:12 PMYeah - though I think Darling comes out of that pretty well 
Admittedly it is from his memoir.
Also just a slight update. The Met have searched Mandelson's two homes and spoken to him, but not under caution or arrest.
Pressure's continuing to mount on Starmer - lots of stuff going on but it's not great. One thing I'd flag is there are increasing reports that Angela Rayner expects to be exonerated on the tax issue by HMRC and is apparently preparing to launch a leadership bid. Her allies are also briefing that she advised Starmer against appoint Mandelson. Rayner gets on very well with the King, but in opposition she was reaching out to the Palace and government that they needed to move a lot more aggressively on Andrew and that she'd offer cross party support.
Admittedly it is from his memoir.Also just a slight update. The Met have searched Mandelson's two homes and spoken to him, but not under caution or arrest.
Pressure's continuing to mount on Starmer - lots of stuff going on but it's not great. One thing I'd flag is there are increasing reports that Angela Rayner expects to be exonerated on the tax issue by HMRC and is apparently preparing to launch a leadership bid. Her allies are also briefing that she advised Starmer against appoint Mandelson. Rayner gets on very well with the King, but in opposition she was reaching out to the Palace and government that they needed to move a lot more aggressively on Andrew and that she'd offer cross party support.
#2
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Jacob - Today at 07:44:46 PMDimon sounds like a bit of a twat.
#3
Off the Record / Re: Facebook Follies of Friend...
Last post by Tamas - Today at 07:43:53 PMQuote from: Valmy on February 03, 2026, 01:10:49 PMAnd how they ship people they arrest down to Texas for processing, determine they did nothing wrong, and release them in Texas with no way to get back home. I was always nervous about how the police had the theoretical power to lock you up for 24 hours for no reason, but this takes it to a whole new level.
If I get Yi's "logic" on this, if that's legal you should ignore it. And if it's not legal you should also ignore it because the courts will conjure their magic to make it stop.
#4
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 07:31:41 PMI think your point is fair and as I say I basically agree, I'd just add to it the additional point of Mandelson's own character - as I say he was nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness". I think it is shocking that he was leaking very sensitive information that was basically insider trading to a mate - but it would not have been shocking to discover he was leaking it to a friendly journalist. So that is sort of in character.
On Brown - he wrote that letter in September after the first tranche of further revelations emerged about Mandelson.
My suspicion with Brown is that he is very paranoid (not quite as paranoid as Harold Wilson who thought the security services were plotting a coup - and I'm a bit of a Wilson-truther on that
). But, often, justifiably so. His operation in the Treasury and then Number 10 was absolutely brutal. But so were Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell. Even putting the Iraq war to one side I am always surprised at Alastair Campbell's emergence as a voice for standards in public life and as a mental health campaigner given he has admitted to being the person who briefed a friendly commentator that Brown was "psychologically flawed" (he has also subsequently apologised for it - but I don't think i was an uncharacteristic moment).
So I suspect Brown has long thought there were leaks in his time in office, saw the Epstein revelations and what he knew about Peter Mandelson and put two and two together.
I'd add another really fascinating detail via Faisal Islam from the emails I shared further up the thread when Mandelson was advising Jamie Dimon to "mildly threaten" the then Chancellor, Alistair Darling. Darling's memoir describes a call from Dimon (we now know) just after Mandelson's email. He said he normally treats calls as confidential but as fairly accurate reports were in the press he would write about it:
Islam's the BBC Economics Editor (then with Channel 4) and notes that Darling was unmoved by Dimon's threats and had cordial meetings with him later, adding: "Darling told me how almost a full house of bankers rang him up with what seemed like a coordinated script complaining about the bonus tax, so inept that he started narrating the script back to them, because he'd heard it all before"
But an interesting insight into some of the "bond vigilantes" and Islam says he's spent the last 15 years wondering about the gilts market threat - and now we know how it happened.
I'd also add the current Governor of the BofE, Andrew Bailey, worked in the Treasury when Darling was Chancellor. Darling died a couple of years ago. Bailey was asked about the Mandelson revelations and got quite emotional noting the honour and probity of Alistair Darling compared with the man who was advising American bankers to "mildly threaten" him. (Worth noting that Gordon Brown's Number 10 was also briefing against Darling who later said Brown unleashed the "forces of hell" on him - Gordon Brown's spin doctor, Damian McBride, was later forced out after revelations he'd been planning to set up websites to spread fake sexual and personal rumours about the wives of David Cameron and George Osborne.)
On Brown - he wrote that letter in September after the first tranche of further revelations emerged about Mandelson.
My suspicion with Brown is that he is very paranoid (not quite as paranoid as Harold Wilson who thought the security services were plotting a coup - and I'm a bit of a Wilson-truther on that
). But, often, justifiably so. His operation in the Treasury and then Number 10 was absolutely brutal. But so were Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell. Even putting the Iraq war to one side I am always surprised at Alastair Campbell's emergence as a voice for standards in public life and as a mental health campaigner given he has admitted to being the person who briefed a friendly commentator that Brown was "psychologically flawed" (he has also subsequently apologised for it - but I don't think i was an uncharacteristic moment).So I suspect Brown has long thought there were leaks in his time in office, saw the Epstein revelations and what he knew about Peter Mandelson and put two and two together.
I'd add another really fascinating detail via Faisal Islam from the emails I shared further up the thread when Mandelson was advising Jamie Dimon to "mildly threaten" the then Chancellor, Alistair Darling. Darling's memoir describes a call from Dimon (we now know) just after Mandelson's email. He said he normally treats calls as confidential but as fairly accurate reports were in the press he would write about it:
QuoteMr Dimon was angry, very angry. He pointed out that his bank had not been the cause of this crisis. That was true, but, I said, in 2008 his bank, like every other bank, had depended heavily on both ourselves and the US government in order to stay in business. He said that his bank bought a lot of UK debt and he wondered if that was now such a good idea. I pointed out that they bought our debt because it was a good business deal for them. He went on to say that they were thinking of building a new office in London but they had to reconsider that now. I knew full well that they were considering consolidating their offices in London and I guessed correctly that to teach us a lesson they would postpone their decision until after the general election. That they did.
Mr Dimon then went on to say that I was punishing the many Veterans he employed in his office doing fairly humdrum jobs. I said I doubted that. The Veterans were working in the US and were beyond the reach of UK taxes, although I did say I was pleasantly surprised that he paid humble employees such high salaries that they would be affected by the bonus tax aimed at top earners.
Islam's the BBC Economics Editor (then with Channel 4) and notes that Darling was unmoved by Dimon's threats and had cordial meetings with him later, adding: "Darling told me how almost a full house of bankers rang him up with what seemed like a coordinated script complaining about the bonus tax, so inept that he started narrating the script back to them, because he'd heard it all before"
But an interesting insight into some of the "bond vigilantes" and Islam says he's spent the last 15 years wondering about the gilts market threat - and now we know how it happened.
I'd also add the current Governor of the BofE, Andrew Bailey, worked in the Treasury when Darling was Chancellor. Darling died a couple of years ago. Bailey was asked about the Mandelson revelations and got quite emotional noting the honour and probity of Alistair Darling compared with the man who was advising American bankers to "mildly threaten" him. (Worth noting that Gordon Brown's Number 10 was also briefing against Darling who later said Brown unleashed the "forces of hell" on him - Gordon Brown's spin doctor, Damian McBride, was later forced out after revelations he'd been planning to set up websites to spread fake sexual and personal rumours about the wives of David Cameron and George Osborne.)
#5
Off the Record / Re: The EU thread
Last post by HVC - Today at 06:41:08 PMQuote from: Zoupa on Today at 03:35:26 AMWow. They look pretty pathetic. Good.
See, thats why europe will never have a unified front
#6
Off the Record / Re: The EU thread
Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 06:39:22 PMMaybe I've been jaded by my years in service, but I thought they looked normal/fine (for having to do a march in the cold/with battle rattle).
#7
Off the Record / Re: Refractory Gauls, or the F...
Last post by Razgovory - Today at 06:30:10 PMYoot
#8
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - Today at 06:13:20 PMThat's what we're gonna have to rename the White House to after this shitshow is over.
#9
Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...
Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 05:59:56 PMHow about landfills? "The Trump Dump".
#10
Off the Record / Re: Refractory Gauls, or the F...
Last post by Crazy_Ivan80 - Today at 05:51:02 PMa youth? or a "youth"?