LABOUR MPs have blasted Sir Keir Starmer for not being “up to the job” after Lord Peter Mandelson was sacked from his role as US ambassador.
Dithering Starmer finally sacked Mandelson on Thursday amid a deepening scandal into his friendship with disgraced Jeffrey Epstein.
PAPM Starmer finally sacked Lord Mandelson yesterday[/caption]
PAReform UK leader Nigel Farage has now hit out at Sir Keir[/caption]
Mandelson has confessed to carrying on his friendship with Epstein for ‘far too long’
Lord Mandelson was removed from his post after emails emerged in which the peer offered support to Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences.
Sir Keir, who had said he had “full confidence” in Lord Mandelson before the emails were published, now faces questions over what he knew and when about the ex-ambassador’s ties to Epstein.
But the PM now faces mounting Labour unrest as his party turn on him.
Clive Lewis became the first Labour MP to call for the PM to go this afternoon.
The left-wing backbencher told the BBC’s The Week In Westminster programme: “You see a Labour Prime Minister who feels that he’s lost control within the first year.
“This isn’t navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me. It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country.
“We don’t have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think increasingly, I’m sorry to say, just doesn’t seem up to the job.”
Meanwhile, MP Kim Johnson said that “trust is eroding” and claimed that the PM did not seem to be putting country over party.
She told Sky News: “Mandelson has been sacked yet he still holds the whip. I think he should be removed from the Lords.
“Some of my colleagues lost the whip for supporting children in poverty and disabled people. He should lose the whip.”
Nigel Farage suggested Sir Keir “ignored the warnings” about Lord Mandelson and took “quite a long time” to act.
Speaking as part of a Reform UK press conference in Caerphilly, Mr Farage said: “I’m not saying Mandy has done a bad job over there but I think we have the good fortune of a pro-British presidency.
“Look, Peter Mandelson – he’s a very clever bloke, he’s a very knowledgeable bloke.
“But, clearly, he does have one or two demons. Twice before he’s been removed from Cabinet. This is the third time he’s been removed.”
Mandelson told The Sun on Harry Cole Saves The West that he “deeply regretted” any association with Epstein and said he felt conned by the paedophile.
We then published emails showing the relationship continued after Epstein’s crimes had emerged.
The Sun revealed bombshell emails of the peer coaching the late disgraced financier through his conviction for soliciting prostitution.
The PM fired the Labour peer with immediate effect after a letter showed him calling the late paedophile his “best pal”.
Mr Farage said: “I just don’t know what the intelligence briefing that Morgan McSweeney, the right-hand man to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister got.
“But you sort of begin to get the feeling that the PM ignored the warnings, carried on without really having much support in his own party, and then it took him quite a long time to actually remove Lord Mandelson.
“So, it’s kind of left the PM and McSweeney, his right-hand man, in a very difficult position with their own parliamentary party.”
Peter’s Past Scandals
PETER Mandelson, one of the most influential figures in New Labour’s rise to power, was forced to resign from the Cabinet not once but twice during his career.
His first dismissal came on 23 December 1998, when he stepped down as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
The scandal centred on a secret loan of £373,000 that he had received from fellow Labour minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a house.
The loan had not been declared in the Register of Members’ Interests, raising questions about transparency and propriety.
Although there was no evidence of wrongdoing in terms of policy decisions, the controversy became politically untenable, and Mr Mandelson was left with little choice but to resign from his post just 18 months into Labour’s first term in office.
Mr Mandelson returned to the Cabinet in October 1999 when then PMTony Blair appointed him Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a role that placed him at the heart of efforts to implement the Good Friday Agreement.
However, his comeback was short-lived.
On 24 January 2001, he resigned again after allegations that he had sought to intervene on behalf of the Hinduja brothers, two wealthy Indian businessmen, in relation to their UK passport applications.
At the time, the brothers were major donors to the Millennium Dome project, which Mr Mandelson had championed.
Although subsequent investigations cleared him of improper conduct, the perception of a conflict of interest proved politically damaging, and his second forced exit further cemented his reputation as a brilliant but controversial operator within New Labour.
Calls for his departure came as a picture emerged from a 2002 holiday on Epstein’s private island showing Mandelson dressed in just a bathrobe.
The Prime Minister insisted that “due process was followed” when he was appointed at the end of last year.
But Downing Street later repeatedly avoided giving a straight answer on how much the PM knew about his close links to Epstein – insisting that “extensive vetting” had taken place.
Mandelson’s words to Epstein can be read in a birthday book from 2003 which was compiled by British convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
He also called Epstein “mysterious” and “intelligent, sharp-witted man”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Mandelson might have gone but, just as with Angela Rayner, Starmer dithered when he needed to be decisive.
“Time and again he puts party above country. He has no backbone and no convictions. There are now serious questions over what Starmer knew and when. We deserve to know.”
Earlier, Labour MPs broke ranks demanding the party grandee be removed from post after he described paedophile financier as his “best pal”.
YouTube/Harry Cole Saves the WestUnder fire Lord Mandelson made his startling apology to Harry Cole earlier this week[/caption]
UnpixsPeter Mandelson, left, tries on a belt during a shopping trip with Jeffrey Epstein in St Barts[/caption]
APMandelson’s words to Epstein can be read in a birthday book from 2003 which was compiled by British convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
