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Will Prescott: Why Australia’s centre-right is having an identity crisis

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Will Prescott: Why Australia’s centre-right is having an identity crisis

William Prescott is a researcher at Bright Blue.

Last week, the National Party Leader, David Littleproud, announced he was withdrawing his Party from its longstanding coalition with Australia’s main centre-right party, the Liberals, for the second time since last year’s disastrous election loss. With the Australian centre-right parties now divided and losing ground and under siege from both their left and right, the only winner is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party.

Since its unexpectedly large defeat at last May’s federal election, the Coalition has struggled to overcome the centre-right’s deep structural problems. Reduced to just 43 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, the Coalition parties were all but wiped out in the major cities that most Australians call home. However, it held on more strongly in rural areas, with the more conservative, country-based National Party holding onto all of its 15 lower-house seats.

The increased relative strength of the National Party, which suddenly found itself holding more than a third of the Coalition’s total 43 seats, compared to just over a quarter after the 2022 election, immediately made itself felt. Amidst fears that the Liberals would shift to the left to win back former heartland inner-city seats, the Nationals announced in late May 2025 that they would not renew the Coalition agreement.

While the blowback was considerable, and the Nationals returned to the Coalition just over a week later, the underlying tensions remained. Ultimately, at least on the climate issue, the Nationals got their way in November last year, when Liberal Leader Sussan Ley officially ditched her Party’s 2050 net zero target.

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More recently, the Nationals’ intransigence arises from a fear that their vote share is being increasingly cannibalised by Pauline Hanson’s right-populist One Nation party. An on-and-off-again feature of the Australian political landscape, Hanson’s core platform, which has barely changed since her political emergence in the mid-1990s, centres around drastically reducing immigration and a hostility to multiculturalism.

Concerningly, from a centre-right perspective, One Nation has surpassed the now-dissolved Coalition in opinion polls. According to a January 2026 Newspoll — generally considered the most trustworthy Australian pollster — One Nation’s vote share stood at 22 per cent, just ahead of the Coalition’s lamentable 21 per cent. This is up from just 6.4 per cent of the vote at last year’s election.

Especially worryingly for the Nationals, the evidence suggests that One Nation’s support is most concentrated in the same regional and rural areas that are home to many of the Coalition’s surviving MPs and Senators. Reflecting Hanson’s potential appeal to disaffected rural voters, the maverick former Nationals Leader, Barnaby Joyce — deposed by Littleproud in May 2022 — defected to One Nation in December last year out of frustration at not being reappointed to the frontbench.

Matters came to a head on Thursday last week, when, following a row over post-Bondi hate speech laws, Littleproud declared the Coalition was “untenable” so long as Ley, who has been in post since replacing Peter Dutton after last year’s election loss, remains Liberal Leader. Although the immediate crisis is not of her making, it looks set prove the final straw for Ley, who now faces an imminent leadership challenge amid poll ratings that have been dismal for some time.

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Unfortunately, there is no easy road back for the embattled former Coalition parties. While pivoting to the right on immigration, cultural, and climate issues may, in the short term, help to reunite the Coalition and reclaim ground from One Nation, it will do nothing to help regain the more socially liberal urban seats it needs to unseat Labor, and which it has been losing for some time.

Between the 2019 and 2022 elections, for example, the Liberals lost seven of their former heartland seats to the socially and economically liberal ‘teal’ independents. Among the seats lost were those held by former Prime Ministers Sir Robert Menzies and Tony Abbott, as well as former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The only Liberal who managed to recover a teal seat at the last election was the moderate and openly gay Tim Wilson.

Amidst this centre-right infighting, the only true victor is Albanese. Despite a modest legislative record since taking office in 2022, a humiliating constitutional referendum defeat, an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and, most recently, a bungled response to the Bondi beach shootings, the absence of a viable opponent means he continues to enjoy a dominant electoral position. While, according to the latest Newspoll, Labor’s primary vote sits at a lacklustre 32 per cent, it now leads the two-party preferred vote 55 per cent to 45 per cent — Australia’s compulsory preferential voting system means this is the more significant gauge of political fortunes. Indeed, at the last election, it secured a landslide election victory with just 34.6 per cent of the primary vote.

While Ley’s likely imminent overthrow may well pave the way for the Coalition’s restoration, it won’t solve the centre-right’s identity crisis. Pivoting to the right may put Liberal-National tensions on ice, but it will make it virtually impossible to win back the cities and, by extension, government. Pivoting to the centre, however, may help to regain the cities but risks entrenching the Liberal-National divide. Until the centre-right can unite around a compelling vision that appeals to both town and country, The Lodge will remain Albanese’s for the keeping.

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Slept 8 hours but STILL woke up exhausted? You may have ‘paradoxical insomnia’

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Slept 8 hours but STILL woke up exhausted? You may have ‘paradoxical insomnia’

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An Expert’s Guide To Talking To Your Boss About ADHD

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An Expert's Guide To Talking To Your Boss About ADHD

As many as 76% of employees who have been diagnosed with, or suspect they might have, ADHD, say that they have chosen not to tell their boss about it. A whopping 65% do so out of fear they’ll be discriminated against by management.

Of course, as consultant psychiatrist Dr Devendra Karnal from Private ADHD & Autism UK pointed out, “Under the Equality Act, an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments only applies if they know about the condition”.

“Many people delay telling their employer about ADHD because they’re trying to protect themselves,” he told HuffPost UK.

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“There’s still a real fear of being judged as less capable or more difficult to manage, even when someone is performing well. For a lot of people, waiting feels safer than risking the label being misunderstood.”

Here, the experts shared their guide to discussing ADHD with your boss.

When is the right time to tell your employer about ADHD?

“There isn’t a single right moment to disclose ADHD, as it really just depends on how safe the environment feels and whether support is genuinely needed. However, when it’s starting to affect your workload or wellbeing, that might be a sign that staying silent is costing more than speaking up,” Dr Sik told us.

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“Disclosure tends to land best when it’s raised proactively in a calm, neutral setting, as opposed to raising it reactively during something like a performance review.”

How should I approach a discussion about ADHD with my boss?

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Bongani Dhuba, also from Private ADHD & Autism UK, said that focusing on outcomes instead of labels can help.

Instead of saying you’re constantly distracted, he suggested, try saying something like, “I produce my best work with written briefs and minimal interruptions”.

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“Many people cope well initially, especially in structured roles, but struggle later as demands increase or routines change,” Dr Sik added.

“Rather than focusing on the diagnosis itself, it can help to explain what’s changed and what would help you work at your best. For example, you could say: ‘I’ve noticed I’m struggling more with competing deadlines, and believe a couple of small adjustments would really help me perform better.’”

“Managers tend to respond better when the conversation is about performance and solutions, not personal shortcomings. You’re not asking for special treatment but just explaining how to do your job well.”

Anything else?

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Yes! Dr Karnal said you should present your strengths at the same time as sharing your support needs.

“Remember to present the full picture and highlight the value you bring, not only the extra support and conditions you’ll need,” the psychiatrist said.

Don’t apologise for your differences, and, Dr Sik advised, “Disclosure tends to land best when it’s raised proactively in a calm, neutral setting, as opposed to raising it reactively during something like a performance review”.

Document everything you and your employer have agreed on, Dr Duba added.

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“If adjustments are discussed, it’s a good idea to follow up with a short summary email to protect the employee and the employer from misunderstandings later.”

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WATCH: Philippe Sands Confronted by Chagos Campaigner

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WATCH: Philippe Sands Confronted by Chagos Campaigner

Starmer’s mate and surrender deal architect Philippe Sands was confronted in Parliament by a Chagossian. Save Chagos…

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US grapples with imperial ambitions

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US grapples with imperial ambitions

The Trump administration has returned $500 million in oil money from previous oil transactions with Venezuela. A US official said it was to keep the country’s services running. The US kidnapped Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro on 3 January. In his place, former oil minister deputy Delcy Rodriguez is running the oil-rich nation.

A US official told The New Arab on 4 February:

Venezuela has officially received all $500 million from the first Venezuelan oil sale.

The unnamed individual said the money would be:

disbursed for the benefit of the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the US government.

The cash seems to have been from an oil deal struck in January:

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So in essence, we allowed Venezuela to use their own oil to generate revenue to pay teachers and firefighters and police officers and keep the function of government operating so we didn’t have systemic collapse.

The official said the money, which had been held in Qatar, was a:

temporary, short-term account to ensure Venezuela received the funds needed to operate.

Venezuela: agreed-upon procedures

The official even explained there were plans to move money from future oil sales:

into a fund located in the US and to authorise expenditures for any obligation or expense of the government of Venezuela or its agencies and instrumentalities upon instructions that are consistent with agreed-upon procedures. 

The New Arab also reported pro-Maduro street protests. Maduro’s son Nicolasito was in attendance. He told reporters of the demonstrators:

These people are not American.  We have achieved a profound anti-imperialist consciousness.

Maduro is in a New York jail. He claims he is a prisoner of war. The US has indicted him for drugs and weapon possession charges Yet whatever the balance of power in Venezuela is now – and whatever the anti-imperialist rhetoric on display – this seems to suggest that the Venezuelan government is not calling the shots any more.

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Trump’s massive military build-up and eventual special forces raid on Venezuela seems to have done the job. The US seeks to dominate the Western hemisphere entirely. Trump has now moved onto bullying Iran. The Venezuelan revolution, whatever its merits and shortcomings, seems to have stalled for now.

Time will tell if it becomes another footnote in US imperial history.

Featured image via the Canary

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Politics Home | How Farage Hopes To Prevent Reform From Repeating UKIP’s Mistakes In Wales

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How Farage Hopes To Prevent Reform From Repeating UKIP's Mistakes In Wales
How Farage Hopes To Prevent Reform From Repeating UKIP's Mistakes In Wales


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Nigel Farage claims that he has learned from UKIP’s mistakes a decade ago when it comes to ensuring Reform UK’s success in Wales is not a short-lived phenomenon.

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At a press conference on Thursday, Farage unveiled former Conservative councillor Dan Thomas as Reform’s new leader in Wales, making him the latest Tory to make the switch.

Fellow defectors Laura Anne Jones and James Evans were in the audience in Newport’s International Convention Centre. The recent flow of defections, which includes former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and ex-shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, is seen by Reform figures as helping maintain the party’s momentum heading into the May elections.

Reform is expected to make significant gains at the Senedd elections, with recent polling putting the party far ahead of Labour, which has dominated politics in Wales since its devolved institutions were established at the turn of the century, as well as the Tories. The contest to lead Wales is seen as a two-horse race between Reform and Plaid Cymru.

Thomas, a former council leader in north London, said he had “fond memories” of growing up in south Wales, where his grandfather and great-grandfather were miners.

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It is not the first time that Farage has been on the cusp of an electoral breakthrough in Wales, though.

In 2016, his former party, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), won 13 per cent of the popular vote to return seven Senedd seats. By the end of that parliament in 2021, however, after a period of splits and infighting, just one of those seven sought re-election.

Last year, UKIP’s former leader in Wales, who went on to lead Reform in Cardiff, Nathan Gill, was sentenced to prison for taking pro-Russia bribes.

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Asked by PoliticsHome how his current party would avoid the mistakes of UKIP in Wales, Farage said that candidate vetting would be “absolutely key”. The party, which continues to lead UK-wide opinion polls, though there are some signs that its support has dipped in recent weeks, is asking candidates to go through media training led by TV personality Jeremy Kyle and ex-LBC presenter Colin Brazier in Reform HQ.

“The choice of candidates in some cases that were picked to stand for UKIP at that moment in time were completely against my [vision] as leader of the party,” Farage told PoliticsHome.

Farage added: “Two or three of them were wholly unsuitable in every way. But leaders don’t always get their way… and quite shortly thereafter, after [a] quarter of a century, I left [UKIP] believing it was going in the wrong direction.”

Llyr Powell, who was the Reform candidate at last year’s Caerphilly by-election and who worked in the UKIP press team during the 2016 Senedd election, suggested that her former party was destined to fall away in Wales, having achieved its aim of successfully campaigning for Brexit.

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“Nigel’s goal in UKIP was always to win an in-out referendum,” she said.

“We’re all united behind the fact we want to see Nigel Farage in Number 10 now.”

While Farage said he wants tighter control of candidate selection, he also conceded that Thomas and any newly elected Reform Senedd members must be given space by Reform’s Westminster operation to make their own decisions.

“When it comes to devolved matters, it’s up to Reform UK in Wales to make those decisions,” he told PoliticsHome.

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He added: “I wouldn’t even pretend that I knew what needs to happen within the failing NHS in Wales.”

 

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Victoria Beckham Shares Spice Girls Performance Clip Amid Family Feud

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Victoria Beckham Shares Spice Girls Performance Clip Amid Family Feud

Victoria Beckham has joined her Spice Girls bandmates for an impromptu sing-along of one of their signature hits.

On Thursday, Victoria’s youngest son Cruz Beckham shared a video on social media showing him accompanying his mum and her fellow Spice Girls Melanie C, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton on the guitar for a rendition of the ballad Viva Forever.

Cruz’s girlfriend, Jackie Apostel, also appears towards the end of the clip.

“I think I found my openers… you think they have potential?” he captioned the post, in reference to his upcoming tour.

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Viva Forever is clearly a favourite for Cruz, who dueted with his mum on another rendition of the chart-topping ballad in a video he posted online back in November.

The Beckhams haven’t been far from the headlines in recent weeks, after Victoria’s eldest son Brooklyn Peltz Beckham confirmed rumours that he is now estranged from the rest of his family in a series of candid Instagram posts.

Amid Victoria’s family drama, she has been spending time with the Spice Girls, including last month, when she shared a photo of the group, minus Mel B, celebrate Emma’s 50th birthday.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s solo music has also had a resurgence recently, after Not Such An Innocent Girl became the UK’s best-selling single of the week back in January, in light of the Beckham family fall-out.

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While it did not make the official top 100, it became the most downloaded song of the week just days after Brooklyn spoke out against his family.

Fans are no doubt hoping this accidental musical comeback could lead to Victoria reconsidering joining the Spice Girls for a 30th reunion tour, after she maintained that she would rather concentrate on her fashion line.

As recently as October, Victoria admitted she was “tempted” to reunite on-stage with the girls after seeing the success Oasis had, even if she doubted she’d be able to find the time because of her designing career.

Meanwhile, Melanie C recently teased on Heart radio that the group was also considering reuniting, although she didn’t specify whether this would include Victoria, who famously did not take part in the group’s 2019 stadium tour.

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Trump Says It ‘Bothers Me That Somebody is Going After Bill Clinton’ Amid Epstein Scandal

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Trump Says It ‘Bothers Me That Somebody is Going After Bill Clinton’ Amid Epstein Scandal

US President Donald Trump said it “bothers” him that former President Bill Clinton is facing scrutiny and an order to testify about his past ties to the late child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, who Trump infamously also had a relationship with.

“It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton. See, I like Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton,” Trump told NBC News in a White House interview Wednesday.

Asked what he likes about the former president, Trump answered: “I liked his behaviour towards me. I thought he got me, he understood me.”

This expressed support came one day after Trump called it “a shame” that Clinton and his wife, Hillary, have been subpoenaed to testify about their ties to Epstein.

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Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein was documented in investigative files released by the Justice Department last week. The files include a shirtless photo of Clinton in a hot tub with someone that a DOJ official described as a “victim” of Epstein’s sexual abuse. He has denied wrongdoing and having any knowledge that Epstein was abusing underage girls.

Trump, who also faces unverified allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors in the documents and has denied wrongdoing, said it’s time to “move on” from the Epstein files and expressed support for the Clintons. This about-face follows Trump infamously calling for the former secretary of state to be locked up during and long after their vitriolic 2016 presidential campaign battle.

“I think it’s a shame, to be honest. I always liked him. Her? Yeah, she’s a very capable woman. She was better in debating than some of the other people, I will tell you that,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “She was smarter. She’s a smart woman. I hate to see it in many ways. I hate to see it, but then look at me, they went after me like — you know, they wanted me to go to jail for the rest of my life. Then it turned out I was innocent.”

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Rory Stewart wouldn’t know a low income wage if he tried

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Rory Stewart wouldn't know a low income wage if he tried

Former MP Rory Stewart has no idea what a low income is. The posh boy podcaster beloved of centrist dads put forward a rousing defence of impoverished – checks notes – Members of Parliament in an interview during which he wore a frankly troubling polo neck jumper.

In a hand-wavey waffle about poor MPs being easily manipulated by the wealthy (what?), Stewart told LBC:

We’ve got hundred of MPs on very low incomes, some of them very insecure, struggling to get jobs when they leave, they are perfect prey for wealthy well-connected men who can offer them board positions, invite them to parties, put them on private planes.

Okay, mate. For the record the basic MPs wage is £93,904 per year. That’s after their 2.8% pay rise from April 2025.

The average wage in the UK seems to be about £30,000. The mathematical geniuses among us will notice that that is…. quite a lot less than what MPs get paid.

It’s almost like Roderick James Nugent “Rory” Stewart – a humble Oxford educated one-time tutor to the future king of England, former army officer, and imperial governor of a province of Iraq – hasn’t got a fucking clue what he is talking about.

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Roderick rides again

Stewart, born in Hong Kong to a diplomat who is said to have been a top candidate to head MI6, spent a number of years as a Tory MP.

For the 4287th time, I find myself going back to his *drum roll* voting record from those heady days.

Admittedly, I usually reach for these receipts when some centrist dad fuckwit in the pub tries to claim Stewart is a sort of sensible, moral conservative….

But any excuse to get Roderick’s voting record out is good enough for me. I have actually had it tattooed on my body so people can just read it now.

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Let’s have a little look at Rory’s votes on benefits:

  • Almost always voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits

  • Generally voted for reducing housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have excess bedrooms (which Labour describe as the “bedroom tax”)

  • Consistently voted against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability

  • Consistently voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices

Sounds like man who really understands the value of money on these benighted islands, doesn’t he?

How about tuition fees?:

  • Consistently voted for university tuition fees

Oof…

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Corporate tax?

  • Almost always voted for reducing the rate of corporation tax

Oh Rory…

Climate change?

  • Generally voted against measures to prevent climate change

Bloody hell, Roderick. If only the melts knew how to Google, you’d lose half the listenership on your shit podcast with war criminal Alastair Campbell.

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Speaking of which, where are you on war – a very expensive and wasteful business that…

  • Consistently voted for replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system

  • Consistently voted for use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas

Immigration? Come on Rozzer, you can pull this back from the brink.

  • Tended to vote for a stricter asylum system

  • Consistently voted for stronger laws and enforcement of immigration rules

Well, shit. It turns out Rory is just a bog-standard Tory. Nothing more, nothing less. Rory is simply defending the well-off. Which includes MPs. And he isn’t convincing anybody otherwise. With the sole exception of your tedious Rest is Politics-obsessed Blairite uncle who likes to play devil’s advocate over things he knows nothing about in the pub.

Featured image via the Canary

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Keir Starmer Gains Breathing Space Amid Political Tensions

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Keir Starmer Gains Breathing Space Amid Political Tensions

Keir Starmer threw himself on the mercy of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims today as he desperately tried to save his premiership.

The prime minister stared down the barrel of a TV camera and apologised to them for appointing Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington, despite his known links to the convicted paedophile.

“I am sorry,” he said. “Sorry for what was done to you. Sorry for having believing Mandelson’s lies and appointed him. And sorry that even now you are forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.”

But the prime minister’s audience was as much his own MPs as it was the women who were abused by Epstein.

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They are the ones who hold his fate in their hands, and the bad news for Starmer is that, if anything, they are even angrier than they were yesterday.

One veteran backbencher described the mood among his colleagues as “universally low”.

Another MP said: “Taking refuge in constituency stuff this weekend seems appealing.

“But trying to pretend it’s all a bad dream for a few days won’t work, as constituents will be taking the chance to make very clear how they feel about Starmer and Mandelson and that’ll end up feeding into things back in parliament next week.”

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Starmer’s argument is that he was unaware of the extent of Lord Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with Epstein, and was lied to by the then Labour peer during the vetting process for the ambassadorial post.

“He portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew,” the PM said. “And when that became clear and it was not true, I sacked him.”

But that is failing to convince even his own ministers, with one telling HuffPost UK: “Everyone knows Peter was always going to be a high risk appointment and that’s the most disappointing thing.

“On balance the ‘is this worth the risk’ question should have been answered with a ‘no’.”

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For a prime minister and former barrister, Starmer does seem to be remarkably incurious.

The full extent of Mandelson’s deep connections with Epstein were, of course, unknown until the latest tranche of documents on the billionaire financier were released last week by the US Department of Justice.

Details of him allegedly passing on market sensitive information in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash has stunned Westminster and have put Mandelson at the heart of a criminal investigation.

Nevertheless, there was enough evidence available long before Starmer made Mandelson his ambassador to show that he had maintained contact with Epstein after his conviction.

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An internal report from 2019 by the JP Morgan bank containing emails between the pair was reported on by the Financial Times in 2023.

Photographs of the pair shopping in the Caribbean and blowing out candles on a birthday cake in Epstein’s Paris apartment were also widely in circulation.

Given that, it is hard to understand how Starmer could have bought Mandelson’s line that the pair “barely knew” one another.

Labour MP Richard Burgon – no fan of Starmer’s, it must be said – remarked: “No minister should be giving the impression that Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein – even after his jailing – wasn’t known before Mandelson became ambassador. It was.”

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Other MPs insist the moment of maximum danger for Starmer has passed, at least in the short term.

But the feeling remains that the PM is now just one mis-step away from a full-blown leadership crisis – and his rivals are preparing to strike.

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Wings Over Scotland | A Stitch In Timing

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Readers will probably be aware that literally as you read this, the Scottish Government is in court trying to defend its policy of letting male murderers be housed in women’s prisons by arguing that the Equality Act 2010 (as ruled on by the Supreme Court in the For Women Scotland case) is incompatible with the Human Rights Act 1998, implementing the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (commonly referred to as the ECHR).

But this article isn’t about that case.

Because today the Court Of Session issued an unrelated judgment that an entirely different piece of Scottish law is incompatible with the ECHR.

Wings readers have been following the deeply troubling case of Mark Hirst since 2021. Mark was arrested in 2020 on ludicrous charges involving a tweet constituting an alleged “breach of the peace” against the anonymous complainers who’d made false allegations of sexual assault against Alex Salmond, who’d been cleared on all counts at the High Court earlier the same year.

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Seven months later Mark’s trial collapsed at Jedburgh Sheriff Court with the sheriff ruling there was no case to answer. Later that year he commenced proceedings to sue the Lord Advocate for malicious prosecution, and today – a disgraceful four years and seven months later – those proceedings reached their conclusion.

Put simply, judge Lord Lake concluded that Mark DID have grounds for a claim of malicious prosecution against the Lord Advocate – Scotland’s most senior law official, head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service but controversially also a minister in the Scottish Government – but that he was obliged to dismiss the claim because the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, (section 170) grants prosecutors total immunity, because Mark had not been imprisoned.

Lord Lake found that this conflict in law breached Mark’s right to fair treatment.

This might seem like an arcane technical point, but is in fact incredibly serious. Scots law has been ruled flatly incompatible with international human rights law, a situation which cannot possibly be allowed to continue. The CPSA will have to be changed urgently to avoid such grave injustices from happening again, yet it would take a bold gambler to bet on the Scottish Government doing so before May’s general election, or any time soon afterwards.

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(It claimed to have no time to support Ash Regan’s bill on prostitution this week, despite it mirroring official SNP policy, but the Parliament did manage to debate a ban on greyhound racing despite there being absolutely no greyhound racing in existence anywhere in Scotland.)

The irony of this extremely rare legal scenario (declarations of incompatibility are vanishingly uncommon, for the obvious reason that most laws are carefully written to avoid them) coming up twice under the same administration, and in connection with the two most shameful episodes in Scottish Government history – the conspiracy, persecution and cover-up against Alex Salmond, and the imposition of violent male criminals on vulnerable women – is hard not to appreciate.

But in a country where nobody – least of all the Crown Office – is accountable for anything, irony appreciation is just about the only thing people have left to hold on to, as Scotland’s justice system dies slowly of shame.

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