Sir Keir Starmer insisted he never would have appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador if he had known the full extent of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, in his first public comments since sacking the Labour peer.
As he sought to get back on the front foot after his “phase two” plan for government got off to a chaotic start, the prime minister attempted to move on from the fiasco hours before Donald Trump’s historic second state visit.
But even as he tried to bolster his position, he was rocked by yet another resignation when key aide Paul Ovenden quit as head of strategy in a fresh scandal over obscene emails about veteran MP Diane Abbott. The dramatic developments came as:
Meanwhile, two of Britain’s leading pollsters warned Labour is facing even worse problems with voters, with one suggesting the party “is yet to hit rock bottom”.
With the crisis over Lord Mandelson throwing serious questions on his judgement as prime minister, Sir Keir held a morning meeting with his junior ministers in Downing Street to “rally the troops”.
In the afternoon, he came out to address the concerns which had been raised about the Lord Mandelson debacle and what he knew before appointing him as ambassador to the US and then standing by him at PMQs last Wednesday before ultimately sacking the Labour peer on Thursday.
He insisted he would have “never appointed” Lord Mandelson “had I known then what I know now”, in his first comments since sacking him over links to Jeffrey Epstein.
He said the “nature and extent of the relationship” between the convicted paedophile and Lord Mandelson is “far different to what I’d understood to be the position at the point of appointment”.
Asked why he had been appointed in the first place, Sir Keir said: “Peter Mandelson, before he was appointed, went through a due diligence process. That’s the propriety and ethics team. He went through a process, and therefore I knew of his association with Epstein.
“But had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him, because what emerged last week were emails, Bloomberg emails which showed that the nature and extent of the relationship that Peter Mandelson had with Epstein was far different to what I had understood to be the position when I appointed him.
“On top of that, what the email showed was he was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time that, for me, went and cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years, and this government’s approach.”
But as he tried to address the Mandelson crisis, Mr Ovenden, a longstanding member of his staff, was leaving Downing Street over revelations he had sent emails that used explicit sexual language about Ms Abbott.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “These messages are appalling and unacceptable. As the first Black woman to be elected to parliament, Diane Abbott is a trailblazer who has faced horrendous abuse throughout her political career. These kinds of comments have no place in our politics.”
With Labour losing seats to Reform in three council by-elections last week, there was a feeling that the wheels are in danger of coming off.
Pollster Robert Hayward noted that postal voting means last week’s council by-elections would not have fully reflected the scandals which led to the resignation of Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister over her tax affairs and Lord Mandelson’s sacking.
He told The Independent: “Those two events will have a significant impact on the polls going forward. Last week’s results were bad – but Labour has not hit rock bottom yet.”
Meanwhile, Professor Sir John Curtice noted: “All three Reform gains were on around 30 per cent of the vote. That’s often enough to win in our fractured politics.”
Meanwhile, Mr Farage – with a 10-point poll lead for Reform over Labour – unveiled the first sitting Tory MP to defect to him, with Danny Kruger switching to his party.
But even with Kemi Badenoch’s leadership of the Tories in freefall, Labour MPs were more concerned about their own leader and whether he could survive. Some suggested Sir Keir could be gone, while others said he has until next May’s elections in English councils and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments to turn it around.
Labour Norwich South MP Clive Lewis warned on Friday that Sir Keir “doesn’t seem up to the job”, while fellow MP Graham Stringer said the prime minister is “supping in the last-chance saloon”.
There was speculation that Mr Stringer may step down to allow Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to replace him so he could replace Sir Keir.
Meanwhile, latest polling by Survation on Labour’s deputy leader contest found Lucy Powell had the support of almost half (47 per cent) of members, ahead of Bridget Phillipson, who is seen as Sir Keir’s favoured candidate, backed by 30 per cent.
