No honeymoon for Sunak as far as the Mandarins are concerned

 

The latest PM had his first PMQs yesterday and suddenly all is well within the Tory Party, according to the MSM. It looks as if they’re going to grant him a honeymoon or perhaps just a honey-sennight, a moon being a bit long for our political correspondents who must be exhausted after all those camping reports. You’ll find the front pages of this morning’s dead tree press in the usual place (link).

The ‘main points’ of Sunak’s new policies are, briefly, that the Fracking Ban is back. That’s the ban Labour wanted to vote for last week, which the Truss government had turned into a confidence vote, to be voted against, and which led to the unseemly kerfuffle which broke Truss’ neck. Yes, that was only a week ago, but as we have hopefully all learned: a week is a long time in politics. 

Another point is ‘education, Sunak apparently having taken a leaf out of TBlair’s playbook, according to ‘a source’. Well, this is the lead article in The Times’ online frontpage today, so it must be serious:

“The prime minister is planning far-reaching changes including a new “British baccalaureate” and a network of elite technical institutes to transform vocational training. A Downing Street source said Sunak believed that if there were “one silver bullet in public policy” that would improve lives, it was likely to be investment in education and skills. “This is an absolute priority for the prime minister,” they said.” (link, paywalled)

Well, good luck with that, is all I say. However, Whitehall is ‘unhappy’ with the current Tory government generally and the new Sunak cabinet in particular. Mandarins are keeping ip their insidious campaign for ‘regime change’. There was a report in the DT yesterday evening which is akin to showing Sunak some Whitehall ‘torture instruments’. This one is  by a civil serpent , insinuating that they were not to blame for the Kwarteng budget fiasco:

“Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was told that his mini-Budget could push up borrowing costs, the head of the Debt Management Office has disclosed. Sir Robert Stheeman told the Treasury Committee that officials from his department “were in close contact with colleagues and the Treasury officials” in the run up to the statement on September 23, warning that it was “likely to result potentially in higher borrowing costs.” (paywalled link)

I am somewhat puzzled how anyone, never mind Mr Kwarteng, could be expected to make a decision when the advice is couched in mandarin weasel-speak such as: ‘likely to result potentially …’. ! 

The Home Office mandarins are also extremely unhappy of being saddled with Ms Braverman – again. I wonder why … ! Surely those mandarins cannot be happy with the influx of Albanian criminals when even The Times has a report under the headline:  “Small migrant boats bring 10,000 Albanian men to UK – Officials reveal they are spending £7m a day housing asylum seekers in hotels” (link, paywalled)! Surely they’d support a Home Sec trying to do something about this! But noo – they are still bitching about her appointment. Firstly, see this:

“Suella Braverman faced a backlash from civil servants on Wednesday after it emerged that the Cabinet Secretary raised concerns with Rishi Sunak about her reappointment as Home Secretary. The First Division Association (FDA) which represents senior civil servants claimed her appointment smacked of “political expediency” when any civil servant acting like the Home Secretary would have lost their security clearance.” (paywalled link)

Note the reference to ‘security clearance’ – I’ll come to this in a moment. The FDA has form, having “backed former Home Office mandarin Sir Philip Rutnam in his bitter row with Priti Patel”. Now see this interesting snippet from an ‘ally’, that:

“[…] she has faced “standard Home Office obstruction” to a minister with robust plans to crack down on immigration. Sources close to her, however, said she had good working relations with officials.” (paywalled link).

It gets even better, or more confusing, or more indicative that certain civil serpents are happy to sabotage any attempts at curbing illegal immigration. The DT, recapitulating the earlier reports leading to her resignation or sacking, writes (my emphasis):

“Sources said she had been forced to use her private email account on her personal phone because her government phone had not been working outside the office. She had been on her way to a police raid at 5.30am in the morning and was under pressure from Number Ten to sign off a written ministerial statement by 9am, so asked for it to be sent to her personal email so she could work on it and deliver it by the deadline.” (paywalled link)

‘Pressure from No 10’ – was that La Truss or just one of her SpAds? Note though how many ‘sources’ have been talking to the DT. In my books, ‘sources’ equals ‘leaking’. Odd, isn’t it, that leaking appears to be acceptable when it’s from anonymous “sources”, especially when they brief against an inconvenient minister. 

Then there’s this ominous ‘security clearance’ mentioned by yon FDA chief, mentioned above. Have you ever wondered if anything is done to stop those leaks? Well, here’s a turn-up for the books: there is actually ‘a little known unit’ at the Cabinet Office investigating such leaks. They of course wouldn’t leak, would they – unless it’s politically convenient for the mandarins. The DM has an intriguing little report which is a prime example for how to smear someone already bad-mouthed by mandarins. See the headlines:

“Suella Braverman was embroiled in probe over leak that raised ‘concerns’ at MI5 – Home Secretary was included in an investigation this year by a little-known unit – The leak related to a story about the Government’s plan to apply for an injunction – The story said that it was the Attorney General who was seeking the injunction – It is understood leak about her plans caused ‘concern’ to the Security Service”. (link)

Oooh – MI5 was ‘concerned’, so Ms Braverman must be a baddie! She must have been the leaker, right? Wrong. There’s this admission:

“At the time, Mrs Braverman was Attorney General, the Government’s chief legal advisor – and the story said that it was she who was seeking the injunction. It is understood that the leak about her plans caused ‘concern’ to the Security Service, MI5.” (link)

So the leak ’caused MI5 concern’, not Ms Braverman? Interesting. Scrolling down some more, we read that this little-known group didn’t find yon leaker, but never mind that. There’s this poisonous sentence (my emphasis):

“The disclosure of Mrs Braverman’s inclusion in the investigation may pose further questions for No 10 about the decision to reappoint her as Home Secretary on Tuesday.” (link)

Guilt by association, guilt by ‘MI5 being concerned’ – isn’t it wonderful that this piece was leaked just at the time when yon FDA is stirring up ‘concern about her security clearance’! This is how the Westminster cabal works: a beautiful swamp of leaks and counterleaks, placed with ‘political correspondents’ to create a climate of mistrust and antagonism against the new Home Secretary.

Isn’t it strange though that nobody in the Westminster MSM dares to ask if perhaps the HO mandarins are ever so slightly racist and misogynist, that this is why they campaign covertly against the previous Home Sec, Ms Patel, and the present one, Ms Braverman? And isn’t it odd that the Labour-infested Westminster swamp is fine with ‘capping’ pensions but is never demanding that the cost for keeping yon illegal migrants warm and fed be also ‘capped’?

It must be something to do with ‘racism’ and institutionalised virtue-signalling …



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