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King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week
Fox News Politics

King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week

King Charles III will meet NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a 9/11 memorial wreath laying during his U.S. state visit that includes a White House meeting.

Key figure in Mandelson vetting scandal will not give evidence before MPs
Key figure in Mandelson vetting scandal will not give evidence before MPs

Chief property and security officer Ian Collard set to submit written answers to foreign affairs committee questions A key figure in the row over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to Washington will not appear before a parliamentary committee of MPs to give evidence. Emily Thornberry had requested that Ian Collard speak to the foreign affairs committee (FAC) on Tuesday, but confirmed on Saturday that he would submit written answers instead. Whether he felt under pressure to deliver Mandelson’s clearance, after Robbins said there was an “atmosphere of pressure” and “constant chasing” from Downing Street. Whether he had seen the cover form for Mandelson’s vetting by UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the agency responsible for checks on candidates for sensitive posts, in which it had ticked two red boxes – meaning they had “high concern” and recommended “clearance denied or withdrawn”. If he was asked by anyone in the Foreign Office, Downing Street or the Cabinet Office for advice about whether Mandelson required vetting for the post given that he was a member of the House of Lords. If he advised on how Mandelson should be treated during the period between his appointment being announced and his clearance coming through. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 7 hours ago
Security vetting stepped up after MP is given bodyguard with far-right links
Security vetting stepped up after MP is given bodyguard with far-right links

Exclusive: Extra social media checks brought in amid growing threat to politicians from extremists The security company that provides bodyguards for MPs has tightened its vetting processes after it sent a bodyguard with far-right links to protect a politician who was under threat from extremists. Mitie, which has a £31m contract for the work, is updating its CPO (Close Protection Operative) vetting processes to include regular social media checks. There will also be random checks on the social media activity of those already taken on. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 12 hours ago
Partygate v Mandelson: Keir Starmer faces attack from his own playbook
Partygate v Mandelson: Keir Starmer faces attack from his own playbook

Some familiar, arcane terms are returning to the fore as the Tories study the tactics Labour used against Boris Johnson The lexicon of a British parliamentary scandal is arcane. As Keir Starmer fights to remain prime minister, he has had to respond to a “humble address”, had his judgment picked over during an “emergency opposition day debate” and now faces the ignominy of a “privilege motion”. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 16 hours ago
‘They deserve to lose’: Labour at risk of ‘red wall’ collapsing in May elections
‘They deserve to lose’: Labour at risk of ‘red wall’ collapsing in May elections

Voters in Barnsley, Sunderland and Wakefield express frustration with party amid strong Reform UK challenge When millions of voters across Great Britain go to the polls on 7 May, the result will have a profound impact on the future of Keir Starmer’s government. In Wales and Scotland, nationalist parties are expected to be in charge for the first time simultaneously, joining Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland. In London and the cities, the Greens are on the charge. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 22 hours ago
I witnessed the dying days of Boris Johnson’s premiership. Keir Starmer’s position is uncannily similar | Simon Hart
I witnessed the dying days of Boris Johnson’s premiership. Keir Starmer’s position is uncannily similar | Simon Hart

For all his sins, Johnson didn’t sacrifice others to save himself. That’s not leadership – and Starmer may learn that all too soon Simon Hart was government chief whip from 2022 to 2024 Sitting at the back of the public gallery watching Olly Robbins give his evidence to the foreign affairs select committee hearing on Tuesday felt horribly like the summer of 2022 all over again. Back then, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, had seen off numerous attacks on his integrity – most of them from Keir Starmer, for what it’s worth – mainly on the back of Partygate, but with the final blow being struck by the resignation of the little-known deputy chief whip after allegations of sexual misconduct. The similarities are not lost on anyone like me who has witnessed all of this from relatively close quarters. In Johnson’s case, the main plank of his defence was either that he had been told nothing at all, or that what he was told (by officials or advisers) was selective at best. The trouble was that no one really believed him. He was PM and with that came the expectation that irrespective of the whys and wherefores, the buck had only one place to stop. Simon Hart was government chief whip from 2022 to 2024, and is author of Ungovernable Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 23 hours ago
Walking the dog and braving the paps: the art of the doorstep photo, from Keane to Mandelson
Walking the dog and braving the paps: the art of the doorstep photo, from Keane to Mandelson

Former US ambassador and Labour peer joins a long line of people who have gone out to meet awaiting paparazzi head-on For a man at the centre of a storm that has rocked the political establishment, Peter Mandelson has spent the week looking remarkably relaxed. Day after day, as MPs have grilled civil servants over who knew what when about the former US ambassador’s security vetting, and police continue to investigate serious allegations over his own conduct, Mandelson has stepped out of his Regent’s Park mansion and pottered across the road to take his dog for a walk. Smart-casually dressed in jeans and a jumper and holding in front of him a plastic ball-thrower, he has set off for the park like a weekending solicitor on his way to an egg and spoon race. There have been occasional small smiles for the photographers at his gate, but no comment. The message appears to be: I am insouciant, normal. Not in prison. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 23 hours ago
UK position on Falklands will not change, No 10 says after leaked Pentagon memo
UK position on Falklands will not change, No 10 says after leaked Pentagon memo

Internal email proposes US should reassess support for UK claim to islands because of lack of support for Iran war UK politics live – latest updates Downing Street has been forced to insist that Britain will not yield sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, after a leaked Pentagon email proposed the US should reassess its support for the UK’s claim on the islands because of a lack of British support over Iran. The memo reflected ways in which the Trump administration could punish Britain for failing to follow the US lead in bombing Iran, and comes before a potentially fraught three-day state visit to the US by King Charles. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics 1 day ago