Jared kushner

Wednesday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Starmer avoids ethics inquiry, Birmingham’s bin strikes end and Trump is targeted

Home The House of Commons voted 335 to 223 against a Conservative-led motion to refer Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, to the Privileges Committee over his claims about the vetting of Lord Mandelson; 14 Labour MPs voted for the motion. Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff, who had recommended the appointment of Lord Mandelson, told the Foreign Affairs Committee that No. 10 had wanted Lord Mandelson in post ‘quickly’ but that officials were never asked to ‘skip steps’. Sir Philip Barton, the former permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, told the committee he was ‘presented with a decision’ made by the PM and ‘told to get on with it’.

Thursday

Taki

The Kushner conundrum

Gstaad I have two special girlfriends, Lynne and Fiona, the ladies who guard The Spectator’s entrance against the outraged #MeToo gels and woke lackeys who occasionally take umbrage against the poor little Greek boy’s scribbling. My guardian angels recently sent me some personal letters posted long ago, which I will eventually answer, especially one from Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, a very old friend, whose beautiful daughter Cressida — a Spectator Notebook contributor — dodged a bullet when Harry Halfwit went Hollywood. Although months in arrears, please accept my apologies, Helen Holland, Mary Ruskin and Anthony Johnson; such are the joys of the mail during and after a pandemic.