Mandelson not given in-depth vetting before appointment, says Foreign Office
Peter Mandelson was not subject to in-depth security vetting prior to his appointment as ambassador to Washington, the government has said,The Cabinet Office conducted a due diligence process on Mandelson before he was chosen for the role but this was not a security check, the Foreign Office said in a letter to MPs,Mandelson went through the ambassadorial appointment process, including in-depth national security vetting, only after his appointment had been announced to the public,The disclosure, made by the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the department’s top official, Oliver Robbins, raises further questions about the lack of rigour involved in Mandelson’s appointment to the top diplomatic post earlier this year,Cooper and Robbins were responding to a set of written questions from the foreign affairs select committee.
They said their department had not been asked to contribute to the due diligence process that the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team carried out before Mandelson was given the job.They said that Mandelson underwent full developed vetting to the “usual standard” after his appointment was announced and had been given clearance by the time he took up the role in Washington on 10 February.Emily Thornberry, the committee’s Labour chair, asked whether those vetting Mandelson had been told to “overlook” the “glaring national security and reputational risk” he posed.“Did the Cabinet Office miss the glaring red flag of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, or did it fail to pass those concerns on?” she asked during a three-hour Commons debate on Mandelson’s appointment.Thornberry argued that the scandal could have been avoided if her committee had been allowed to question Mandelson before he was appointed, a request that was turned down by the Foreign Office.
The former business secretary and architect of New Labour was sacked last week after a tranche of emails were published in which he expressed love and support for Epstein and urged him to “fight for early release” in 2008 while the financier was facing charges for soliciting sex from minors.Keir Starmer, who had faced questions about his judgment in choosing Mandelson and giving him his full support a day before sacking him, said on Monday: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, argued on Tuesday that had the full extent of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein been known, he would have not held a string of other high-profile roles.“If the full depth and extent of this relationship had been so obvious I hardly think that Lord Mandelson would have been one of the leading candidates to become chancellor of Oxford University and I highly doubt that he would have been offered the job as presenter on Times Radio,” Doughty told MPs.“National security vetting is a longstanding formal process undertaken by UK security vetting on behalf of individual departments and reporting back to them.
The process is rightfully independent of ministers, who are not informed of any findings other than the final outcome,Exactly the same procedures on that were followed in this case,” Doughty said,But he said ministers had listened to MPs’ arguments about being allowed to scrutinise future appointees and would consider “all options to support the work of the committee in the future”,David Davis, a former Conservative cabinet minister, told the Commons that Starmer’s standing on the world stage had been “diminished” by the row,He characterised Mandelson as someone who was “easily dazzled by wealth and glamour” throughout his career and whose association with Epstein showed a “reprehensible attitude” to women.
Davis also detailed Mandelson’s business interests, including his setting up of Global Counsel, a consultancy which he said had acted for “extremely dubious Russian companies” and Chinese firms.The debate came in the run-up to Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK, which Kemi Badenoch said risked being overshadowed by the row.“It is extraordinary – extraordinary – that on the eve of the president’s state visit, we are talking about the US ambassador who’s been sacked in scandal,” the Tory leader told the Commons.Badenoch and Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, both urged Starmer to personally apologise to Epstein’s victims.
UK set on resolving standoff with big pharma, science minister says
The UK is determined to resolve its standoff with the pharmaceutical industry and reverse a 10-year decline in NHS spending on medicines, the science minister has told MPs after a string of drugmakers cancelled projects worth nearly £2bn.Patrick Vallance, a former executive at drugmaker GSK, said the country needed to increase spending on medicines and reverse a decade of declining investment.“We are determined to solve this,” Lord Vallance told the Commons science committee. “This is not something [where] we’re sitting saying let’s watch the decline of the industry. That’s what’s happened for the past 10 years
Jaguar Land Rover extends production shutdown after cyber-attack
Jaguar Land Rover has extended its shutdown on car production, as Britain’s biggest carmaker grapples with the aftermath of a cyber-attack.JLR said on Tuesday it would freeze production until at least next Wednesday, 24 September, as it continues its investigations into the hack, which first emerged earlier this month.The manufacturer said: “We have taken this decision as our forensic investigation of the cyber incident continues, and as we consider the different stages of the controlled restart of our global operations, which will take time.“We are very sorry for the continued disruption this incident is causing and we will continue to update as the investigation progresses.”JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata group, stopped production at its sites after discovering hackers had infiltrated its systems a few weeks ago
How memes, gaming and internet culture all relate to the Charlie Kirk shooting
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Dara Kerr here, filling in for Blake Montgomery, who promises he’ll come back from vacation. Meanwhile, I’m looking at the memes, gaming and internet culture behind the shooting of Charlie Kirk.The bullet that killed conservative activist was inscribed with a message: “Notices bulge OwO whats this?” The online world quickly recognized the reference. It’s a phrase used in internet culture to troll people in online role-play communities, specifically furries (a subculture that cosplays as anthropomorphic animal characters)
How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Letter
In discussing generative artificial intelligence (‘It’s going to be a life skill’: educators discuss the impact of AI on university education, 13 September) you appear to underestimate the challenges that large language model (LLM) tools such as ChatGPT present to higher education. The argument that mastering AI is a life skill that students need in preparation for the labour market is unconvincing. Our experience is that generative AI undermines teaching and learning, bypasses reflection and criticality, and deflects students from reading original material.Student misuse of generative AI is widespread. Claims that AI helps preparation or research is simply cover for students taking shortcuts that do not develop their learning skills
County Championship: Notts build lead despite Fisher’s 10-wicket heroics for Surrey – as it happened
Seventeen wickets fell on a feet-tappingly tense day at the Oval, the game swinging like an out-of-kilter pendulum as the bowlers hunted in packs, with assistance from a pitch with a twinkle in its eye. Nottinghamshire finished the day with a lead of 277 and two wickets left, to leave Surrey the biggest score of the match to chase – but on a pitch that usually irons out.After a calm first hour Surrey collapsed from 101 for one to 173 all out, only for Nottinghamshire’s batters to repeat the feat, quickly 89 for six against the excellent Matt Fisher, who has picked up 10 wickets in the match and may have bowled himself on to the Lions’ winter tour of Australia. Liam Patterson-White and Lyndon James then added crucial late afternoon runs.Surrey announced that 80,000 people had come through the gates at the Oval to watch Championship cricket this year – a record for the 21st century
Berthoumieu’s ban cut to nine games and Feleu also out of Women’s Rugby World Cup
Axelle Berthoumieu’s ban for biting Ireland’s Aoife Wafer has been reduced to nine matches but Manaé Feleu’s citing was upheld by a disciplinary committee meaning both will miss the rest of the Rugby World Cup. France play England in the semi-finals on Saturday.The pair were cited on Sunday after their 18-13 quarter-final win against Ireland. Berthoumieu was cited for biting Wafer and, while the flanker accepted the foul play, she was appealing against the length of the initial 12-match ban a disciplinary committee proposed on Monday. That had already been reduced from the starting point of 18 matches but was taken down to nine because of her clean previous disciplinary record, remorse and public apology
‘Our plans could be derailed’: family firms say Labour tax rises will force fire sales
State pension on course for inflation-busting 4.7% rise under triple lock; JLR production shutdown extended again – as it happened
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