This is Northumberland Calling 6.2.26
The Another Week, Another Scandal for Starmer edition
Hello America (especially Central Ohio), this is Northumberland calling.
This week Starmer discovered how reckless his appointment of Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the US was.
The latest tranche of Epstien files revealed that not only was Mandelson closer to Epstein than he had state but also Mandelson seemingly sold British state secrets to Epstein back when he was Business secretary.
Kemi Badenoch forced Starmer to reveal that he had known the relationship was far closer (although he denies all knowledge of the selling of state secrets). The material relating to the appointment of Mandelson will now be released after being vetted by the Intelligence and Security committee. Starmer had wanted the Cabinet Office to do the vetting and narrowly avoided a massive backbench rebellion. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/mandelson-files-epstein-news-wcqxrkkg8 or https://archive.ph/3qr89
Mandelson is very well connected in the Labour party and particularly to Morgan MacSweeney who is Starmer’s Chief of Staff.
Labour Grandees like Lady Harriet Harman have openly called for Starmer to go. 21 Labour backbench MP have called for a public inquiry into the appointment.
How long will Starmer last? Can Angela Rayner get her tax affairs in order so that she can mount a challenge (readers may remember that Big Ange had to resign due to certain irregularities in her house purchasing habits)? Where is former Mandelson protégé Wes Streeting in all this?
Mahmood’s threats of visa suspension has concentrated minds in 3 African countries and Namibia, Angola and DRC have agreed to take back their citizens which the UK is seeking to deport (criminals and illegal migrants). Mahmood is working on other countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. The restrictions mirror the approach the Trump administration has taken. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/02/05/african-countries-take-back-thousands-illegal-migrants/ or https://archive.ph/3K4jS
Mahmood is also pressing ahead with her plan to make migrants wait for at least 10 years (instead of 5) to apply for indefinite leave to remain with a sliding scale of penalties. It should come in April 2026 and will be retrospective. Certain Labour MPs are unhappy.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/03/dozens-of-labour-mps-threaten-rebellion-mahmood-migration/ or https://archive.ph/muCwZ
The Scottish Government is trying to use the threat of trans suicide as to why female prisons should accommodate males. FWS has brought a judicial review of the practice. It appears that the Scottish government remains unconcerned about the females and their mental health if forced to share cells with male prisoners. It was a notable feature about the whole trans women must be accommodated in female spaces that the impact on females was never considered. The Scottish Government has also rejected the compromise suggested by EHRC of creating bespoke trans-only spaces. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/segregated-trans-prison-wings-risk-suicide-claims-snp-government-gj50633z3 or https://archive.ph/JHS6X
What are British values? The Life in the UK test delineates the important values such as – obeying and respecting the law; being aware of the rights of others and respecting those rights; treating others with fairness; behaving responsibly; helping and protecting your family; respecting and preserving the environment; treating everyone equally regardless of sex, race, religion, age, disability, class or sexual orientation (note the word gender is not used!); working to provide for yourself and your family; helping others; and voting in local and national government elections. Certain people claimed that Matt Goodwin does not demonstrate these values. I suspect he would argue that he does and that being British does not mean forcing people to hold the same opinions or hold all cultural practices with the same regard. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/04/british-nationality-opinions-left/ or https://archive.ph/dJGbO
Someone did try to murder Bonnie Prince Charlie as he lay sleeping in Bannockburn House in Stirling. For a long time, this was thought to be an unfounded rumour but a musketball has been discovered in the headboard of the bed he slept in. They are now doing further work on the house. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/04/bonnie-prince-charlie-survived-assassination-attempt-bed/ or https://archive.ph/y5OEN
I can confirm the rumours in certain writing circles are true – Harlequin has decided to close its historical romance line. As readers may recall, they opted not to renew my contract because they no longer wanted to publish new Viking romance and were not interested in any new Regency work from me. They were going down to four books per month. This alteration had not even hit the bookstores when they decided to pull the plug on the entire series. They will be publishing new books up until Sept 2027 but will not be taking on any new authors and some of the old authors are in discussion about their contracted books. My former editor wrote to me and basically said that even with the change they are not minded to give me my rights back because my books are still selling in foreign markets. A number of authors are very shell shocked. I admit that the demise has happened far more quickly than I anticipated. I blame their marketing department.
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The weather is foul and I suspect there will be flooding. The river was very high when I had to take the train into the Metrocentre this morning on what proved to be a fruitless journey.
Paddy enjoys playing in the puddles but it is a freezing rain.
I have finished reading Fly, Wild Swans and the censorship Chang endured was considerable. She does detail her research into Mao and the detective she undertook. Many people including Kissinger did not like the biography as it shone a bright light on to Mao. The current regime is busy making Mao into a godlike figure, when in fact he was a power hungry monster who was directly responsible for the murder of millions. If you are interested in how totalitarianism works, read this book.
I have no plans to put a paywall on. If you want to buy one of my books to reward me, fabulous. I believe they are good escapist reads, historical romance set in a wide variety of eras such as Rome, Viking and Regency. They are also often on super special at Amazon.
Please subscribe if you like what I write. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.
Sorry to hear the news about the Harlequin historicals and hope your writing finds a new home.
I’m moving that Swans book up in my list. I’ve always heard such positive reviews of it and bought it a while back so I’ll tackle it next.
I found out this morning that Keir Starmer’s A Wanker is a real song and not just something chanted at football games. He should go.
Love Paddy and hope you all stay dry! We’re in a deep freeze over here. NYC’s new mayor is already performing abysmally at the mundane tasks like snow and garbage removal. I’m sure that’s shocking to all.