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I WOULD say hindsight is 20/20 if it weren’t so utterly predictable.
Peter Mandelson got the sack as UK ambassador to the US after emails emerged in which the Labour peer offered support to Jeffrey Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences.
It has understandably opened up a can of worms and a whole heap of scrutiny on Keir Starmer, who green-lighted the appointment in the first place.
Embarrassingly, the Prime Minister also said he had “full confidence” in Mandelson just before the emails were published, and even after a separate birthday letter went public earlier this week in which Mandelson called the late convicted paedophile his "best pal".
Excuses have been rolled out, of course.
Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs that crucial information had not been known when Mandelson was appointed.
He told MPs the emails showed “the depth and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment”.
There are doubts as to whether that is true. Reports suggest security services expressed concerns about the appointment but No 10 pushed it through anyway. Meanwhile, allies of the peer told The Times that he had admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years.
The newest addition to Starmer’s Cabinet, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, leapt to his defence and said he would not have appointed Mandelson if he had known the depth of his relationship with Epstein.
He added that Mandelson’s original appointment had been a “political judgment” that an “unconventional ambassador” was needed to deal with an “unconventional presidential administration” under Donald Trump.
Regardless, the friendship between Mandelson and Epstein was public knowledge for years. Pictures of them trying on belts in a clothes shop and blowing out candles on a birthday cake were in the public domain.
And you don’t have to be Prime Minister to know appointing the friend of a convicted paedophile into a job as high profile as this is probably best avoided.
It’s another huge error of judgement from the PM and his team, one for which his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is getting some pelters for given he is reported to have lobbied for Mandelson’s initial appointment.
But the buck stops at Starmer and his Government, which is plunging into depths of unpopularity I’d wager many thought impossible in July last year.
I’m almost surprised there isn’t more public outrage from Labour MPs. Although, it is growing.
In a scathing comment on Mandelson’s dismissal, the coordinator of new Labour group Mainstream accused the Prime Minister of “running a narrow and brittle political project” that put factional interest before both party and country.
Mainstream was launched this week as a “home for Labour’s radical realists” with the backing of Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, sparking speculation he could be planning a return to Westminster.
Former deputy leadership hopeful Paula Barker, another Mainstream supporter, also criticised the “delay” in dismissing Lord Mandelson, saying there should have been “no hesitation”.
She added: “The delay in sacking him has only served to further erode the trust and confidence in our Government and politics in the round. We must be better.”
Another backbencher, Charlotte Nichols, said Lord Mandelson’s sacking was “not immediate enough unfortunately, as he should never have been appointed in the first place”.
Meanwhile, a host of Labour backbenchers have also expressed anger at Starmer’s handling of the row, with almost 50 reported to have contacted the chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds, calling for the peer to be sacked.
This would be a headache for any Prime Minister, let alone one with a whole catalogue of ministers flying out the window.
An anti-corruption minister resigning amid an anti-corruption investigation into her aunt. A homelessness minister resigning for evicting tenants. A housing minister resigning for not paying correct tax on her second home.
Such is the extent at which he has lost the dressing room, a backbench Labour MP has now called for him to resign too.
Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, 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.”
He added that that there was “a very, very dangerous atmosphere in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) at the moment” following a “deeply unpopular” Cabinet reshuffle.
He said: “People are concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten and feeling as if the party has seen better days – it’s not a great atmosphere.”
Starmer announced the “second phase” of his government earlier this month. But will he even make phase three?
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