If Keir Starmer is telling the truth – and we must assume he is, because nobody could get away with blatantly lying to the House of Commons and the country if he has been lying – then what does it tell us about the Government vetting process?
If Peter Mandelson failed the vetting and was therefore considered a security liability, why was the Prime Minister not told? Chums of the sacked civil servant Sir Olly Robbins claim he was not merely under no obligation to inform the Prime Minister but that he was not allowed to do so by their code of conduct.
If that is true – and it does stretch credulity to think it is – then what about any other official or politician who is granted access to Britain’s most top secret information (always assuming there is any such stuff anymore given our country’s abject decline)?
Officially, we don’t vet our senior politicians. But do our security services really not check out those at the top, like Home Secretary, Defence Secretary or the Foreign Secretary? They get access to the secret stuff and they get appointed before any checking for security clearance can take place because many of them are given their jobs as soon as a new Government is formed.
What happens if one of these top politicians has skeletons in the closet? Do the civil servants really keep that information to themselves? If so, how do they behave when the office holder starts passing top secrets to the Russians, the Chinese or – God forbid – the French? Do they really keep schtum?
Actually, the answer may be yes, they do. Anyone remember Sir Anthony Blunt? MI5 knew in 1963 that he was a Russian spy but the Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures was allowed to carry on as usual until Margaret Thatcher finally exposed him in 1979.
Anthony Blunt (1907−1983), aka "Tony," "Johnson," "Ian"
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