Intelligence and Security?

It is not necessarily a criticism to say that the Intelligence and Security Committee moves at its own pace. Almost unbelievably in view of the arithmetic, the Government had been about to be defeated and Keir Starmer would have resigned by now. But by accepting the Government's amended amendment, the Conservatives bottled it.

Kemi Badenoch forced Starmer to admit that he had known all along about Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein. But within a few hours, she had thrown it all away. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives would care about "papers prejudicial to UK national security or international relations" to protect Russia. This is about Israel.

Mandelson will be removed from the Privy Council because he had "brought it into disrepute", yet he should have been removed because he had broken his Oath, and then stripped of his peerage on grounds that were hardly without precedent down the centuries. But while titles are one thing, the House of Lords has its own power of expulsion, and we should beware of enabling either the Executive or the House of Commons to take away seats in the Lords by anything less than primary legislation. Still, Ministers and MPs do love to empower their successors. Known for the time being as their opponents.