Kmflett's Blog

On Mandelson’s first resignation (23.12.98) Blair wrote to Prescott that New Labour was not ‘diminished’. It is now

Tony Blair to John Prescott on Mandelson’s first resignation. 28^th December 1998

28^th December 1998

I also think it’s very unhelpful if this issue is seen, in any sense, New Labour versus Old. Those who venture out on that agenda need to be fairly firmly slapped down since , in my view, the one thing that really would concern the public is if they thought New Labour had somehow gone or diminished with the departure of Peter Mandelson.

Mandelson borrowed £373,000 from another Minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a Notting Hill house but didn’t declare the loan in the register of interests, a breach of Parliamentary ethics. Both Ministers resigned on 23^rd December 1998.

Tony Benn noted in his Diary ‘Blair is terribly weakened’

The text is a note from Blair to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott released on 30^th December 2021.

On 23^rd February 2026 Peter Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Justice will take its course but it is surely now the end of New Labour

1997-2026

Lord Mandelson, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor

Zia Yusuf who has never been elected to anything but was appointed by Nigel Farage as Reform’s Home Affairs spokesperson last week, was at a press conference in Dover on 23rd February speaking about Reform’s plans for a UK version of ICE, the US paramilitary force.

Yusuf previously promoted a UK version of Elon Musk’s DOGE but that has quietly been dropped.

The Shadow Home Secretary by the way is Chris Philp, who is actually an elected politician.

The Sutton Trust

Nigel Farage has posted on his Twitter timeline a video of himself standing on a beach by the sea. Some might think that he has at last made it to Clacton, the Constituency he is supposed to represent as an MP.

In fact he is on a beach in the Maldives after a stunt involving the Chagos Islands. Who paid for the private jet to get him there and back is not known but he almost certainly was not Farage himself.

The sea is of course the sea but in Farage’s case the relevant one is the North Sea not the Indian Ocean

The Guardian has the full story

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/22/nigel-farage-accused-of-maga-stunts-chagos?CMP=share_btn_url

The Telegraph (22 Feb) has reported that HSBC, Brewdog’s banker since 2015 has acted to secure loans to the brewer by linking them to the Ellon Brewery as security. The paper reports that Brewdog Chair Allan Leighton signed off on the deal earlier in February.

Brewdog has £92m in HSBC loans outstanding with £25m due for repayment in the next six months.

Given that under the sale process currently being run by AlixPartners, Private Equity investor TSG would get £800m if the sale realised less HSBC would lose out without the security deal.

I won’t be losing sleep over the woes of HSBC or indeed Brewdog management but the reported 1400 Brewdog workers need to be protected here and that protection may be hard to come by under current employment law.

The Ambridge Socialist

22^nd February

The Brookfield inheritance: time to expropriate the expropriators

Discussion about who will inherit Brookfield and what happens then continues. The Ambridge Socialist’s long standing view is that the expropriators should be expropriated and the whole thing handed over to the Grundys.

Meanwhile however Stella’s brother Zach a self-confessed financial advisor who probably lives in Hackney has arrived for the engagement party in the Brookfield barn. He has suggested that a pre-nup agreement is important and also opined on Ambridge in a sort of everyone knows this is nowhere mode. He is of course right on that but are the Archers ready for the Brechtian Fourth Wall?

Meanwhile, not reported by the BBC, Zach originally hails from Walthamstow. Its surely no accident that the real life Zak (Polanski) is based in nearby Clapton, although its not known if he is an Archers afficiando..

Josh’s Homophobia

Despite the fact that Josh will be inheriting a very valuable property he is clearly unhappy that Pip and Stella will get Brookfield. Pip has accused of him homophobia and she was right to do so. It appears Josh may be about to be written out for a bit..

Speed Guns

Lynda Snell is reviving the speeding patrols in the village. The impact of mainly urban visitors speeding in rural lanes has been in the news recently. However social media reveals that the police require three not two people for such patrols.

Ruairi and pigs

Brian has sent Ruairi to Berrow Farm to learn pigs. He has tried to back out but Brian has underlined that he must stick at it or else.. The effort by Brian to cover for Ruairi’s bottling of George continues. In part it may be seen as honourable but it might also mean that the person the police have arrested and potentially framed ends in jail. There is a lot more to be said on this

Tom

Tom is being an idiot again. A frequent occurrence.

Alice and Rex

We need to know if the Brewhouse sells cask and craft beer, not of course that Alice will be consuming it…

The Guardian has published an interesting piece by Jonathan Liew about the campaign of Matt Goodwin, the hard right pundit who is Reform’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton By-Election on Thursday.

It seems clear from the report that Goodwin is being very carefully managed and is certainly not out and about meeting voters.

Its an interesting strategy if not a surprising one. Goodwin is not a seasoned political activist used to the rough and tumble of politics particularly in a By-Election campaign is hardly likely to go well for him. Perhaps his GB media profile will help his vote but such occasions are rather different to General Elections where national campaigns rule and what local candidates do or can do is often quite limited.

While the link below contains a brief interview Goodwin with the Guardian, warning the paper to report it correctly or else (free speech and all that) in a Telegraph interview (22nd February) Goodwin claims he has been out canvassing between one and three times a day sometimes for up to eight hours. The purpose of canvassing of course is to identify people who will or are very likely to vote for you and make sure on election day that they actually vote. Whether Goodwin’s pit stops identified by the Guardian article fulfils that seems doubtful but we will find out shortly…

I vote in Tottenham but if I had a vote in Gorton and Denton I’d go Green. As a socialist I have and always have had reservations about the Green Party. Its open to left ideas but that doesnt mean its reliably left. Anyway these discussions are for other times. Stopping Goodwin while sending a message to Starmer that there are viable alternatives to Labour on the left would be a good outcome

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/feb/22/reform-uk-matt-goodwin-gorton-and-denton-nigel-farage?CMP=share_btn_url

Boris Johnson is on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning show in 22nd February….

When AlixPartners consultancy were called in to advise on a sale of Brewdog the plan was to accelerate the matter with it being done in March 2026 before the end of the financial year.

Reports on 21st February suggest that a second round of bidding was due on Saturday with interest in the brewery and brands but less so for the bars.

Its also reported that James Watt has committed £10m of his own funds as part of an attempt to find financial backers to buy Brewdog back. The cost of doing so given that private equity outfit TSG is likely to be owed £800m, more than the probable current sale value, seems problematic. Putting Watt back in charge of Brewdog seems even more so.

As ever the main thought is with Brewdog employees. Surely the Scottish Government should be thinking about an intervention?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/brewdog-co-founder-to-plough-millons-into-rescue-bid-for-the-struggling-brewer/ar-AA1WNtaP?ocid=BingNewsSerp