Sir Ollie’s straightforward and clear evidence confirmed that he had personally and the FC&DO had institutionally followed the procedures set out for the appointment and clearance of Lord Mandelson. Sir Keir is either a bit thick or deceitful. Case closed.
His evidence concretely reinforced the suggestion that he and the FC&DO had followed the procedure for obtaining and considering advice on the grant of DV status for security clearance in confirming the appointment of Lord Mandelson and that “the issue” in the consequences of this was the Prime Minister’s and No 10 staffs’ lack of understanding about how that process worked and failure to act on the advice provided by the previous Cabinet Secretary, Simon, now Lord Case to alter this process in respect of political appointments to high office.
suggesting that Dame Emily is at least a hop, skip and jump away from 21st century working practice.
TWOP concludes that Sir Keir Starmer is both incompetent and mendacious. Sir Keir did not and still does not understand the vetting and security clearance process that he claims to be the master of and punctiliously following which the Prime Minister believes should excuse him from blame for.
The Prime Minister’s line does not hold: he has dismissed the senior civil servant for not following established procedure while simultaneously claiming that the procedure had been followed. Both can not be simultaneously true.
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