the leaked memo (saying trump is a dick)

Should the journo involved be charged with espionage?

Personally I think the journalist/paper should be charged with something; as diplomatic material I don’t know whether they’d be covered by the Official Secrets Act or similar legislation.

Journalist/paper nope. Although I think the civil service could, and should, forget to include them in briefings for a while.
Whoever leaked it though should be gone after. No public interest defence for it.

nope unless the paper asked them to do it. The free press is exactly that free. If they are given information they are free to publish it. Hence the reason my Assange is charged with helping Chelsea Manning because its the only way they can punish him. Why the press are not up in arms about it is beyond me.

No but the person who leaked it should as there was nothing there really worth exposing in the national interest.

I would love to know the motivation of the leaker…

The person could be pro Farage, hoping he might become ambassador or anti-Brexit, knowing it will upset Trump and dash any trade deal etc…

No as it’s not sensitive material.

The journo is pro-farrage

No as it’s not sensitive material.

But not necessarily without consequence. I think that the Ambassador is now going to resign and it could in theory jeopardize post-brexit trade talks (although Trump seems to be taking umbrage at the Ambassador specifically rather than the UK in general).

I’d be interested to know whether the leak came from the Diplomatic Service (possibly from the USA directly) or Whitehall.

Ffs ambassador has just resigned :-(

The Ambassador has gone. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48937120

To be replaced by Piers Morgan.

nope unless the paper asked them to do it. The free press is exactly that free.

Indeed.

And it is in the public interest, Trump is a dick.

Thats widely known.

🤷‍♂️

To be replaced by Piers Morgan.

Farage says he could be useful in the role.

But not necessarily without consequence. I think that the Ambassador is now going to resign and it could in theory jeopardize post-brexit trade talks (although Trump seems to be taking umbrage at the Ambassador specifically rather than the UK in general).

It’s still not sensitive material so doesn’t warrant espionage. He resigned about an hour ago.

Farage says he’d most likely bring in a Pole.

FIFM

I would love to know the motivation of the leaker

The journalist who broke the story is a mate of Lynton Crosby who is running Boris’ campaign

No as it’s not sensitive material

Err yes it was. My understanding is it was marked OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE, I’d argue – given the diplomatic fall-out – it should have been SECRET (at least some of the information). Even handling OFF-SENS stuff though comes with a lot of conditions (I would expect them to have signed the Official Secrets Act for starters). If I leaked OFF-SENS info in my role I’d by fired, and rightly so. Sure sometimes it would be in the public interest but this isn’t one of those times.

He should’ve just doubled down on it, and told them to fire him if they had a problem with the truth.

He was boned either way.

Crooked as. Ambassador was doing his job and the motives here are pure political chicanery. I presume the ambassador will get whatever is the next best gig (Australia?). The whole affair continues to underline how toxic the White House cartel is though. Zero public interest angle here.

My understanding is it was marked OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE,

Not how I understood it but I may have missed that claim.

The truth is that there was a fight with Trump over the last Ferrero Rocher at the Ambassador’s Party.

Sounds like a plot to allow Boris to instate his choice of ambassador once he’s PM. Then him and the Trumpinator can make sweet business deals together that will guarantee a glorious future for both our countries.

Not.

Search begins for new UK Ambassador who is happy to pretend Donald Trump isn’t a moron

Will trump resign after what he has said about our prime minister and capital ‘s mayor?

Will Dumbojo resign over what he said about trump?

Ffs ambassador has just resigned

I knew his time was up when they used the immortal words “has the full support of the Government”.

He was due to retire at the end of the year anyway I think, this is a power grab.

Jesus wept, there stuff happening now almost on a weekly basis that would have been dismissed as too sensational for fiction a few years ago.

I bet we’ll never know who was behind the link, but it must have been someone with close ties to the Foreign Office, it was one of Boris’ minions wasn’t it…

“in 2015 Johnson has this to say about the then Presidential hopeful: “Donald Trump’s ill-informed comments are complete and utter nonsense. I think he’s betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United State”

Maybe he will resign when he becomes PM or is it fake news?

Maybe the yanks hacked us.

Leaker should be tracked down and sacked with extreme prejudice (loss of pension, severe tax audit and a very accurate reference detailing his/her actions that led to the sacking) and the journalist should have a nocturnal visit from an agency asking him to think carefully about his/her future story choices.

If leaker was acting under orders then the trail should be followed.

The political situation in this country is absolutely shameful. All this factional infighting and naked self-interest mean that usual norms have gone right out of the window.

A journalist was saying the other week how he had received links from ministers actually during cabinet meetings. They weren’t even bothering to wait until they got out before they started leaking stuff. They were doing it live, in real time

They’re behaving like some kind of medieval feudal court, and the future of the country is neither here nor there and the civil servants are all deemed as expendable collateral damage. This particular one has got Boris (or his minions) fingerprints all over it.

Isabel Oakeshott who broke the story certainly hangs out with some quite Brexity people… Not to get all conspiracy theorist but it does seem quite coincidental…

Web of intrigue. From today’s Times pic.twitter.com/tPjtrNskIO

— alan rusbridger (@arusbridger) July 10, 2019

It’s interesting that he resigned after BoJo “refused to say” if he would have asked for a resignation or not.

To me the implication is:
“you can jump now, with a modicum of dignity, or I’ll boot you and install my own person in post in a few weeks anyway…”

Clearly UK civil servants are having to weigh up the next (probable) administration already…

Be interested to see if Gavin Williamson was on the distribution list of the information. Both as a known leaker and a central “team Boris” member

Didn’t realise it was Oakeshott. Dodgy as F.

Trouble is, there are too many options for the leaker on her contact list. It’s like an Agatha Christie novel, everyone has a motive.

Official secrets act has to be signed up to (ie. as part of an employment contract), so no default responsibilities on public.

If this wasn’t marked official sensitive by the ambassador then that was a disciplinary offence in itself given the content.

From the Guardian today

But it is his roles prior to that as Blair’s top adviser on Europe and as the permanent representative to the EU under Brown that led to his vilification by Conservative Brexit supporters, who regard him as an arch Europhile

There is your motive.

Rochdale Herald has a take on it

https://amp.businessinsider.com/video-of-boris-johnson-insulting-trump-broadcast-onto-big-ben-2019-6. So,,, boris’s got to go then? I don’t see why the diplomat who told the truth should go. But hey, it’s his decision 🙄

The political situation in this country is absolutely shameful

We’re certainly in the death spiral now.

Putin must be laughing his arse off as he watches this absolute clown parade.

And yet the majority of Tory members would have him (trump) as our PM

I despair for our future

Excellent point nofx