Table of Contents
3 February 2026
First of all, a disclaimer.
Nothing I say in the following piece is to be interpreted, or imply, that I in any way support acts of violence, race hatred, discrimination or exhortation to use anything other than a peaceful expression of one’s views.
A happy New Year to both my readers.
Well, so much is happening in the UK that I really don’t know where to start. Since becoming prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer has attempted to introduce policies, some of which weren’t manifesto items. After huge public outcries (or strong push back from his left-wing back benchers) he has U-turned on 13 of them! The latest one that is in line to be removed is the changes to the jury system.
He proposed (with the enthusiastic backing of the intellectual giant, David Lammy) to abolish jury trials for all but the most serious of offences – those with a sentence of three years or more. This has caused a tremendous backlash, as it strikes at the heart of the UK system of justice and government. The public, and much of the elite, recognise this as yet another attempted power grab by Starmer to try and get more control over the levers of power in the UK.
Breaking news: it looks as though the U-turns are now up to 15.
The stupid deal to give the Chagos islands to Mauritius looks as though it won’t proceed as Donald Trump has realised (or been informed) of the strategic implications of the deal.
In 1965, the UK convened a conference at Lancaster House in London, where representatives from Mauritius agreed to the excision of the Chagos Archipelago from the remainder of the colony in exchange for a payment of £3 million. The population of the islands was to be largely removed.
That same year, the UK transformed the archipelago into the separate legal entity of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which was henceforth excluded from the Mauritian decolonization process. It was accordingly not included in the territorial definition of Mauritius when it gained independence in 1968.
Now, attention has been drawn to the agreement concluded between the US and UK in 1966, just after the excision of the Chagos Islands and before the independence of Mauritius.
That agreement granted extensive basing rights to the US in the archipelago and would run for an initial period of 50 years, extending itself automatically thereafter for a further period of 20 years, to 2036.
The very first clause of the 1966 agreement states that ‘The territory shall remain under United Kingdom sovereignty’. This reads as if the UK promises to the US that the archipelago shall forever be British – an undertaking that would be broken by ratification of the 2025 agreement.
Hence the legitimisation of (or mask for) the pressure from Donald Trump to prevent the giving of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Source: Professor Marc Weller, the Director of the International Law Programme at Chatham House. (29th January 2026)
As usual, Sir Keir Starmer is now in the middle of a political row entirely as a result of his own incompetence.
All this has now been overtaken by the Epstein papers and Peter Mandelson. This reached a peak yesterday with the release of a picture of Peter Mandelson in his undies with a woman at Jeffery Epstein’s residence.
Peter Mandelson was a cabinet minister in the Blair government (’nuff said) – a political mover and shaker often referred to as ‘The Prince of Darkness’ and lately the newly ex-ambassador to Washington.
Lord Mandelson is to step down from the House of Lords, the Lord Speaker says.
It comes after the Cabinet Office refers material to police after reviewing Epstein file documents that suggest alleged leaks of sensitive information by Lord Mandelson.
Police are reviewing reports of alleged misconduct in a public office after emails suggest Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Epstein when he was business secretary in 2009.
· Emails appearing to show Lord Mandelson forwarding on sensitive UK government information to Jeffrey Epstein while he was business secretary have provoked anger in Westminster.
· Labour MP Justin Madders calls it “one of the most outrageous things I’ve seen in politics”, adding that news of Mandelson’s apparent forwarding of information to someone with financial interest in government decisions is “genuinely jaw dropping”.
· Referring to Mandelson’s lengthy career in UK politics, Madders adds: “It’s staggering that someone that was in politics for 30, 40 years was doing this.”
· “Advising a foreign bank to bully our chancellor in a time of financial crisis – it doesn’t get much lower than that.”
Source BBC 2nd February 2026
A 2009 email from Mandelson appeared to suggest that JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon should “mildly threaten” then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling over a bankers’ bonus tax.1
On 13 June 2009, Mandelson allegedly leaked to Epstein a high-level Downing Street document that proposed £20bn of asset sales and revealed Labour’s tax policy plans. The memo was written on 13 June 2009 by Nick Butler, who was a special adviser to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2009 to 2010.2 On 31 March 2010, Mandelson allegedly forwarded confidential minutes of a meeting between the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers five minutes after he received them, which discussed new banking regulation and taxation that Summers wanted to see, in addition to discussion on how the US should engage with France and Germany[3]. The following day, on 1 April 2010, Mandelson met with Larry Summers, and forwarded the minutes of his meeting two minutes after he received them.[6] On 9 May 2010, Mandelson gave Epstein advance notice of a €500bn bailout from the EU to save the Euro.4 On 10 May 2010, Mandelson emailed Epstein saying “finally got him to go today”, with Gordon Brown resigning the following day.
Sources:
1. “Mandelson told Epstein of plan for huge EU bailout, emails suggest”. BBC News. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
2. “Peter Mandelson leaked sensitive UK government tax plans to Jeffrey Epstein”. Financial Times. 2 February 2026. Retrieved 2 February 2026. (subscription required)
3. “Mandelson leaked No 10 documents to Epstein – who then helped him pursue a $4m job”. Tax Policy Associates. 2 February 2026. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
4. “Peter Mandelson reported to police amid new Jeffrey Epstein revelations”. The National (Scotland). 2 February 2026. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
All I can say is that there is more to come. Revelations are coming thick and fast with referrals being made to the police and research being done into the possibility of treason charges (probably just hyperactivity in the febrile atmosphere), but the charge being actively pursued is misconduct in a public office.
It looks as though large supplies of popcorn will be needed.
