I’m reading Antony Beevor‘s Rasputin, only to discover one of Imperial Russia’s Prime Ministers, Boris Vladimirovich Stürmer was perhaps their least impressive and most feckless holder of the post.

From Brittanica

On Feb. 2, 1916, while Tsar Nicholas II was at the front with his troops, leaving the administration of the country to his wife, Alexandra, and to her personal advisor, the illiterate Siberian peasant and holy man, Rasputin, the little-known Sturmer was appointed prime minister because of his association with Alexandra and Rasputin. Sturmer did not establish his own policies while in office, had difficulty in grasping the subject of discussion at meetings, and relied heavily on Alexandra and Rasputin, both of whom made the decisions of the office. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Vladimirovich-Sturmer

As the truth emerges about the appointment of the Lord of Darkness, Peter Mandelson, to the highest of diplomatic posts, despite failing security checks, it seems more than likely that PM Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, one of Lord Mandelson’s zealots, made the case for breaking all the rules and Starmer had neither the wit nor the morality to oppose it.

The subsequent events have further accelerated and strengthened the desires of those living in the British Empire’s last three colonies – Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – to get away from the madhouse in London and its echoes of the last days in St Petersburg and Moscow, 110 years ago.

I know, I’m pushing things a bit here but it’s fun to do so.