The drip-feed of damaging stories about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s top diplomat in Washington continue to haunt Keir Starmer’s government
Keir Starmer was forced to sack Lord Mandelson as Ambassador to Washington last year(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The drip-feed of damaging stories about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s top diplomat in Washington continues to haunt Keir Starmer.
Revelations over the so-called Prince of Darkness’s friendship with the billionaire predator Jeffrey Epstein have rocked the Labour government in recent months.
It led to the Prime Minister’s brush with political death back in February where his top advisers set up a ‘war room’ in No10 to hit the phones to shore up his position. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on the PM to quit. Fortunately for Mr Starmer, he was a lone voice among the most senior figures in the top ranks of today’s Labour Party.
But the danger has not completely faded and the appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US continues to chip away at the Prime Minister’s authority.
This week the Prime Minister faces the eye of the storm once again. He is set to give a statement in the Commons on Monday addressing last week’s explosive revelations Lord Mandelson was given clearance by the Foreign Office – despite failing official security vetting.
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In recent days, Mr Starmer has vented his fury at the department – even sacking the permanent secretary Sir Olly Robbins, over the saga. He claims he was kept in the dark while Cabinet colleagues insist the Prime Minister would have rescinded the appointment if he was privy to the information.
He told The Mirror this weekend he will be “crystal clear” when he addresses MPs – some of whom have accused him of misleading the chamber over the scandal. He said: “The fact that I wasn’t told that Peter Manson had failed his security vetting when he was appointed is astonishing.
“The fact that I wasn’t told when I said to Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable, and that’s why I intend to set out in Parliament on Monday the facts behind that, so there’s full transparency in relation to it.”
Opposition MPs will inevitably demand Mr Starmer’s resignation – but No10 will be watching interventions from their own benches more intently.
All eyes in Westminster will then quickly turn to the box-office appearance of the former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly on Tuesday. The recently sacked mandarin will make his first public comments on the saga since the vetting revelations burst into the open last week.
He will face Dame Emily Thornberry’s Foreign Affairs Committee not as a representative of the government – as he did back in November – but as a private citizen. It could be a painful moment for the Prime Minister, who was accused of having thrown Sir Olly “under a bus” last week by a former Whitehall official.
While the mood is bleak in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), one backbencher told The Mirror they expected fellow MPs to “fall in behind” the PM on Monday – largely crediting his performance over the Iran war and refusing to join the US in offensive action against Tehran.
It still appears to be the consensus that Mr Starmer faces his moment of maximum political danger when voters head to the polls on May 7 in elections across England, Scotland, and Wales.
