Keir Starmer faces mounting Labour unrest today amid a bitter blame game over Lord Mandelson’s humiliating exit.
Fingers are being pointed at the PM and his chief aide Morgan McSweeney over the disastrous appointment of the peer as US ambassador.
The New Labour architect was dramatically sacked yesterday after the emergence of a tranche of extraordinary emails to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, describing him as his ‘best pal’.
However, many MPs are still furious at Sir Keir for picking Lord Mandelson for the post in the first place. There are disputed claims that Mr McSweeney drove the appointment, and wanted to save the peer even after the latest email revelations.
Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Sue Gray is also said to have drawn up an initial short list for the Washington job that did not include Lord Mandelson.
Fielding media question for the government this morning, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander acknowledged that the premier had made a ‘judgment’ on bringing in an ‘unconventional’ ambassador to deal with Mr Trump.
He also admitted that Labour MPs were ‘despondent’ after a dire first fortnight back from the summer break.
The sense of crisis is building around the government just days before the State Visit by Donald Trump.
Sir Keir Starmer pictured with Britain’s ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson in February
Fingers are being pointed at the PM and his chief aide Morgan McSweeney (pictured) over the disastrous appointment of the peer as US ambassador
Lord Mandelson – who once infamously declared himself ‘intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich’ – in a fluffy white dressing gown enjoying a chat with Jeffrey Epstein
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the PM of ‘dithering’ over the decision for days
Sir Keir voiced ‘full confidence’ in Lord Mandelson less than 24 hours before he fired him, and a week ago he rushed through a panicky reshuffle in the wake of Angela Rayner resigning over her tax affairs.
It caps a disastrous start to ‘Phase Two’ of the Labour government, which the PM said would be focused on ‘delivery, delivery, delivery’ after the party’s difficult first year.
Labour MPs branded Sir Keir’s handling of the episode a ‘shambles’. And Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the PM of ‘dithering’ over the decision for days and said there were now ‘serious questions over what Starmer knew and when’.
‘Keir Starmer’s in office, but not in power,’ she said. ‘Britain can’t afford him and this government in crisis.’
No10 angrily denied reports that Sir Keir overruled advice from the security services warning against appointing Lord Mandelson to such a high-profile and sensitive role.
But Whitehall sources told the Mail that senior figures in the Foreign Office ‘advised against the appointment’ before it was announced in December last year.
Downing Street has faced cross-party calls for an inquiry into the episode, including the publication of all documents surrounding Lord Mandelson’s vetting.
Allies of the peer have been making clear he was open about the extent of his friendship with Epstein, a link he has stated he now regrets. However, it is understood he did not have access to the emails because they were in an old account.
After the sacking, Labour backbencher Charlotte Nichols said: ‘Not immediate enough unfortunately, as he should never have been appointed in the first place.’
A Labour insider said: ‘Morgan insisted on appointing him – he’s his political hero and mentor. No one else in Cabinet wanted Mandelson – the PM doesn’t even like him – but Morgan was very insistent. This week he’s been pushing to defend him, even though everyone could see it was over.’
The Mail has revealed that Mr McSweeney was personally warned against the appointment because Lord Mandelson’s links to Epstein would cause embarrassment in the United States.
One Labour MP branded the handling of the episode a ‘shambles’, adding: ‘Everyone could see Mandelson was going to have to go – you can’t have an ambassador who says he’s ‘best pals’ with a paedophile. No one could believe the PM backed him so hard.
‘It just looks like amateur hour every day. It was the same with Angie [Rayner] last week – he backed her when he knew there was a problem and then had to get rid of her. Someone needs to get a grip – and fast.’
In another setback, Ed Balls has admitted his wife Yvette Cooper was ‘frustrated’ about being moved from the Home Office to become Foreign Secretary in the reshuffle.
The sense of crisis is building around the government just days before the State Visit by Donald Trump
Fielding media question for the government this morning, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander acknowledged that the premier had made a ‘judgment’ on bringing in an ‘unconventional’ ambassador to deal with Mr Trump
Labour MPs reacted angrily to the meltdown over Lord Mandelson
Mr Alexander told BBC Breakfast: ‘Many of us were devastated by Angela Rayner’s departure from the Government last week.
‘She’s an extraordinary woman who’s overcome the most extraordinary challenges and we are grieving and feel quite acutely that sense of loss.
‘Now to have the dismissal of Peter Mandelson just the next week, I totally get it, of course Labour MPs will be despondent that in two weeks in a row we have seen significant resignations from public service.
‘These are not the headlines any of us in Government or in Parliament would have chosen or wanted. But the fact is when the evidence emerged, action had to be taken and we are looking forward, therefore, to moving on.’
Mr Alexander said ‘nothing justifies Peter Mandelson’s appointment in light of what has now emerged and our thoughts have to be with everyone affected by Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes’.
‘But the reality is, in the last couple of days Peter Mandelson was in the White House with Donald Trump,’ he said.
‘The reality is the United Kingdom did the first trade deal of any government with the Trump administration. And the reality is, along with Peter Mandelson, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer has established a strong and important relationship with President Trump in the interests of the United Kingdom.’
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Alexander said: ‘The reason he was appointed was a judgment, a judgment that given the depth of his experience as a former trade commissioner for the European Union, his long experience in politics, and his politics and doing politics at the highest international levels, he could do a job for the United Kingdom.
‘We knew this was an unconventional presidential administration and that was the basis on which there was a judgment that we needed an unconventional ambassador.’
