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Liz Webster
16, April

Liz Webster: Everyone knew Peter Mandelson…

Everyone knew Peter Mandelson was a high-risk appointment. So a Prime Minister saying he didn’t know what the vetting said isn’t a defence. It’s the problem. If Keir Starmer didn’t see the details, didn’t ask the right questions, and didn’t know concerns were raised or overridden — then he wasn’t in control of a basic decision. And if a Prime Minister isn’t in control of something this fundamental… who is?
Liz Webster: Everyone knew Peter Mandelson…
https://x.com/LizWebsterSBF/status/2045026620197466406
Liz Webster
02, May #BrokenSystem

Liz Webster: Uk govt has its “head up its bum”…

Uk govt has its “head up its bum” Britain is sleepwalking through a period of profound geopolitical and energy realignment. The old assumptions (cheap global energy, reliable US security umbrella, frictionless trade) no longer hold. Britain’s current strategic posture is dangerously complacent. The UK government (and much of the political class) still acts as if the world order that existed pre-2016 or pre-2022 is basically intact. It isn’t. @labourlewis
#BrokenSystem
Liz Webster
02, May #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: As Starmer faces a leadership…

😡 As Starmer faces a leadership crisis and expected local election wipeout, his niece Ellie Sandover has been parachuted into a safe Labour seat in Croydon. Sitting councillors reportedly removed to make way for her. Nepotism and central control, while he lectures everyone else about “due process.” @LibDems did similar with @DavidCampanale in Sutton and are now staring at a big payout. Party machine control freakery looking after their own while preaching democracy. Voters notice.
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
01, May #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: John Major…

✅ John Major “The fate of individual politicians doesn't really matter as much as the development of the right policy.” Starmer’s in trouble bc of his commitment to Brexit - bad policy. Trying to make Brexit work with US trade deals, lowers standards, exposing farmers, and chipping away at the resilience we desperately need. Brexit made us more vulnerable. We can’t fix generational decline by opening the door wider to imports that undercut British production. We need policy that rebuilds domestic food security, not more short-term trade-offs.
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
27, April #BrokenSystem

Liz Webster: While British farmers are asking…

🚨 While British farmers are asking “can we even afford to produce food?” amid fertiliser, diesel & energy crises… Today’s Times business news: “Chicken King” 2 Sisters Food Group profits jump to £108m (from £35.5m) and they announce £1.7bn investment. Farmers squeezed at the bottom. Processors & supermarkets thriving further up the chain. This is exactly why the food system is broken.
#BrokenSystem
Liz Webster
27, April #BrokenSystem

Liz Webster: Remember when @Johnmcternan said…

🚨 Remember when @Johnmcternan said “we are going to do to farmers what Thatcher did to the miners… it’s an industry we could do without”? Well, here we are. The Times front page today: Britons braced for huge surges in salad, tomato & veg prices as fertiliser, diesel & energy crisis hits from the Middle East war. I also explained to LBC: no food production plan, farms ignored in Cobra meetings, Brexit barriers + reliance on world markets = Britain dangerously exposed. Farmers were right. This attitude is now coming home to roost. #SupportBritishFarmers #FoodCrisis #CostOfLiving #UKFarming
#BrokenSystem
Liz Webster
26, April #WarSpillover

Liz Webster: “America is no longer an ally.”…

“America is no longer an ally.” Says NATO’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, General Sir Richard Shirreff He says Trump’s actions mean Europe can no longer rely on US firepower and must urgently double down on its own defence. This is the brutal reality check facing Starmer’s Atlanticist strategy, the Mandelson appointment and the US 🇺🇸 trade deals - bad for NHS, farming, food security and sovereignty. #BreJoin #RejoinEU
#WarSpillover
Liz Webster
26, April #BrokenSystem

Liz Webster: There’s an uncomfortable point in this debate…

😣 There’s an uncomfortable point in this debate. @matthewsyed argues that modern politics is increasingly shaped by those willing to bend systems, not just follow them. 🔥 And that’s exactly the concern here in Brexitannia 🇬🇧 Bc what we’re seeing isn’t just a controversial Mandelson appointment, it’s a pattern that began with Blair’s Iraq decision. Decisions driven from the top processes stretched or overridden and outcomes justified after the fact. And now all of it in the context of a shift towards closer alignment with the US model.
#BrokenSystem
Liz Webster
25, April #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: RishiSunak calling it straight in today’s Times…

RishiSunak calling it straight in today’s Times. He is right to say the Mandelson appointment wasn’t a failure of process but a failure of political judgment. The responsibility absolutely sits squarely with the Prime Minister. Sunak: “The responsibility for the decision rests with the prime minister.” “Process is no substitute for judgment.” Time to cut through all the deflection and endless reviews, the sacking of Olly Robbins, the whataboutery claims that “I wasn’t told”. 😈 You can add more bureaucracy. You can sack more officials. You can hide behind process. But the decision to appoint Mandelson, despite the red flags, despite the vetting failure, despite the Epstein links, was political. And that decision belongs 💯 to Keir Starmer, even if McSwindle made it for him. This is the same PM who publicly defended the appointment, claimed full process was followed, and then claimed he was kept in the dark. Sunak’s point lands hard: own the call. The gremlin project wasn’t derailed by bad process. It was driven by bad judgment at the top. And now even the man Starmer replaced is saying what everyone can see: accountability starts with the Prime Minister. #MandelsonEpstein
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
25, April #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: This 👇 Mandelson development just changed the game…

This 👇 Mandelson development just changed the game. The EU’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) is now investigating possible misconduct during his time as European Trade Commissioner. This is no longer just a UK political story. It internationalises the scandal. Suddenly we have an independent European body with its own powers, evidence thresholds, and access to documents from outside direct UK government or parliamentary control. That means: 💥 Less exposure to No.10 pressure 💥 Different scrutiny and timelines 💥 The story can’t be fully managed or contained domestically. Even if Whitehall withholds files, OLAF can request them. This is an investigation, not a conviction. It focuses on his EU commissioner years (2004–2008), including alleged favouritism and leaks. But the timing couldn’t be worse for Starmer. The gremlin project was always about elite networking across borders. Now that networking is coming under external investigation both here (Met Police) and in Europe (OLAF).
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
24, April #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: Starmer’s EU reset is running out of time and momentum…

Starmer’s EU reset is running out of time and momentum, it is more of a tactical survival than genuine strategic pivot. Despite Starmer’s stronger language the reset remains very limited by his unworkable red lines. The July summit package (SPS/food checks, carbon pricing link, possible youth mobility) is expected to deliver only 0.3% GDP boost over 15 years; a tiny fraction of the 4–8% Brexit hit estimated by economists. EU officials are sceptical and frustrated: they see it as “old wine in new bottles” - Britain still wants cherry-picking without paying (budget contributions) or conceding on movement. Industry welcomes small steps but warns it’s nowhere near enough. The reset is hampered by slow negotiations, bureaucratic resistance and competing UK priorities ESPECIALLY the US 🇺🇸 deals. Internal Labour pressure is growing for a bolder approach (including from figures like David Lammy), but Starmer is constrained by politics. Polling shows shifting public opinion, majority want closer ties or even rejoining, but Starmer’s caution risks pleasing no one. ⚠️ 🚩 Analysts @anandMenon1 , Sir Ivan Rogers, @CER_Grant warn the status quo is unsustainable and time is running out for any meaningful pivot. 🔗
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
23, April #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: Looks like planned, procedural exit...

Significant Times piece by @patrickkmaguire Looks like planned, procedural exit for Starmer after the expected May 7/8 local election disaster: • Cabinet ministers are now privately concluding that Starmer cannot survive the fallout. • The favoured scenario is not an immediate coup, but an “orderly transition” where Starmer is persuaded (or pressured) to announce a timetable for stepping down. • A new leader would be in place by Labour Party conference (late September / early October 2026) • Maguire names @AndyBurnhamGM as a central figure in this thinking. He notes that soft-left powerbrokers (Miliband, Rayner, Haigh) see Burnham as a viable route back into frontline politics and the leadership contest. Maguire writes that this “bloodless regicide” would suit most of the cabinet: it buys time, avoids a messy immediate leadership election, and gives Burnham a runway to return to the Commons and prepare. https://thetimes.com/article/8d388f0a-08b1-4855-b62b-f3a07118a5e1?shareToken=f6b69a12a142b6752de9a01cbe533118
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
23, April #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: Starmer promised a “Brexit reset” that ...

Starmer promised a “Brexit reset” that would make travel easier. Instead, we have punch-ups in queues, 3.5-hour waits, missed flights and airports suspending the new post-Brexit EES checks. From Lisbon to Milan to Paris, holidaymakers are paying the price for the halfway-house reset that delivers neither frictionless travel nor real sovereignty. This is Brexit reality 10 years on. https://inews.co.uk/news/stuck-queue-post-brexit-checks-fights-broke-out-4370350
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
21, April

Liz Webster: The Intelligence and Security Committee…

🚩🚩🚩 The Intelligence and Security Committee has issued a scathing update on the Mandelson papers. They had to drop everything to review them: The govt has still not provided all requested documents. None of the first batch even related to Mandelson’s vetting. The first two vetting documents only arrived yesterday. Even Parliament’s own security oversight body is now publicly complaining about obstruction. This scandal gets worse by the hour. #MandelsonEpstein
Liz Webster
20, April

Liz Webster: Starmer’s project of making Brexit work…

Starmer’s project of making Brexit work 👉locking Britain in a lift headed straight for deeper American ownership 👉US tech, US capital, US strategic priorities. And he turned on soothing “pro-EU reset” and “BreJoin” lift music to stop people noticing where the lift is taking us. Result? Britain becomes an Atlanticist bridgehead that clashes with the EU while surrendering sovereignty to US interests. The Mandelson appointment (despite China 🇨🇳 red flags) was the clearest signal yet. The gremlin didn’t sneak in, he was key player, invited to hold the door open.
Liz Webster
20, April

Liz Webster: Starmer’s Commons statement collapsed…

Starmer’s Commons statement collapsed. @EdwardJDavey asked the direct question: Was he advised by Simon Case to complete vetting before confirming Mandelson’s appointment and did he follow that advice? Yes or no? Starmer gave a long, evasive answer about later reviews and “the process was followed” but never answered the question. The documents released today prove the advice was given upfront. He has now misled Parliament. The “I wasn’t told” defence is finished.
Liz Webster
17, April

Liz Webster: Sacking Olly Robbins has spectacularly backfired on Starmer…

💥 Sacking Olly Robbins has spectacularly backfired on Starmer. A civil servant only 3 weeks into the job was never going to unilaterally override security vetting on a politically sensitive appointment unless he believed the PM wanted it done. Now Robbins, freshly sacked and with nothing to lose is about to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Starmer just handed his own potential executioner a public platform. The “we were kept in the dark” defence is crumbling. This accelerates the whole thing.
Liz Webster
16, April

Liz Webster: My heart bleeds for Boris Johnson…

🤡 My heart bleeds for Boris Johnson. Public opinion has shifted: 55% would now back rejoining the EU. Nearly two-thirds want closer ties. But Bozzer still says: “I love Brexit, I love Brexit” and calls rejoining “bullshit”. Meanwhile, in the real world: Retirees face visa hurdles in Spain. Car production is at 70-year lows. And global energy shocks from the Gulf are hammering household bills. “It is what it is,” apparently. And David Frost still insists there’s been no damage. That’s the disconnect. The country can see what’s happening. Those who delivered it are still pretending nothing has changed. https://thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sack-boris-johnson-i-love-brexit-i-love-brexit/
Liz Webster
16, April

Liz Webster: For one of the most sensitive diplomatic…

For one of the most sensitive diplomatic posts in the UK system: 👉 Either PM Starmer knew about the risk and signed it off 👉 Or he didn’t know and that’s a failure of oversight 🔥 There isn’t really a third option that looks good. This is about control. Politicians are responsible for decisions. Keir Starmer told Parliament full vetting was followed. Now we’re told security concerns were raised and officials overruled them and the Prime Minister didn’t know. So who is actually accountable? Because if ministers don’t know when security advice is overridden, then decisions aren’t being made by elected politicians at all. #MandelsonEpstein
Liz Webster
15, April

Liz Webster: 🚨 WARNING…

🚨 WARNING: Britain is dangerously exposed to a food crisis. We produce too little of our own food, rely too heavily on imports, hold almost no reserves, and are failing to support the farmers we will depend on when global shocks hit. Government planning seems to assume that if we can keep supply chains moving, food will keep coming. But that ignores the bigger issue, what happens when there is less food globally. Countries feed themselves first. That’s when reliance on imports becomes a vulnerability, not a strength. Which is why domestic production isn’t optional, it’s resilience. 🧵