Pressure mounts on Starmer after more details on Mandelson scandal emerge
Labour MPs question prime minister’s judgment and viability
Sir Keir Starmer is under new pressure over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal after government officials confirmed Downing Street knew details of the Labour peer’s emails to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein two days before he was sacked.
Starmer appeared in the House of Commons on Wednesday to express his confidence in Lord Mandelson, in spite of Number 10 and the Foreign Office being made aware of some of the details of the exchanges on Tuesday.
Starmer sacked Mandelson on Thursday morning but the delay in acting has stoked concern among Labour MPs about the prime minister’s judgment and the effectiveness of his Number 10 operation.
Government officials said the delay in acting was caused by the fact that Sir Olly Robbins, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was trying to get to the bottom of the affair.
“You can’t just sack someone without asking questions and looking into the issue,” said a government official, adding that Starmer did not see the full email exchanges until they were published on Wednesday evening.
“The emails were reviewed overnight and a decision was taken quickly on Thursday morning that he should be sacked,” said the official. Number 10 officials said Starmer was not aware of the contents of the emails when he spoke at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
“Olly Robbins was reaching out and looking into veracity of details and that came back on Wednesday afternoon,” said the official.
Government officials confirmed that the British ambassador to the US relayed to London on Tuesday a media inquiry by Bloomberg that had seen a cache of emails sent to Epstein. The full trove of material was published on Wednesday evening.
While Robbins was conducting his inquiries, Starmer told MPs on Wednesday lunchtime: “I have confidence in him and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship.”
Government insiders said Robbins sent questions to Mandelson late on Tuesday evening and that it was not until late on Wednesday afternoon that the peer came back with answers.
They said it was understandable that Mandelson would have wanted to take advice, given the sensitivity of the issues, but that Robbins was growing “impatient” by late on Wednesday afternoon.
Starmer had given a similar vote of confidence in his deputy, Angela Rayner, at the previous week’s round of Prime Minister’s Questions, 48 hours before she was forced to quit in a tax scandal.
The episodes have created a dire, almost funereal mood, among Labour MPs, some of whom are now speculating about whether Starmer can continue as prime minister beyond next summer.
Olivia Blake, a leftwing Labour MP, told the BBC: “I don’t think I’ve known it this bad to be honest.” She said Starmer’s operation had “deep failings” and that the prime minister was losing his grip on the party.
“I just think whoever is gatekeeping the information must get stuff to him much earlier,” she added.
Starmer is now looking to the state visit of Donald Trump next week — once seen as a potential political problem to be managed — as an opportunity to try to get back on the front foot.
The prime minister’s allies said there would be a “lot of investments announced”, including in areas such as artificial intelligence, technology and nuclear, to show that the government had a viable growth agenda.