Two guests on Good Morning Britain engaged in a furious row over Keir Starmer’s handling of the Peter Mandelson affair
Former Conservative MP Anna Firth and Labour activist Kevin Craig became embroiled in a heated row during a debate about the way Keir Starmer handled the revelations about Peter Mandelson‘s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer finally sacked Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador in Washington on Thursday September 11, after days of controversy about his appointment following the release of correspondence proving his friendship with Epstein.
The pair were invited on the show to debate whether or not Starmer prioritises his party over the country but it quickly descended into chaos as they spoke over each other and refused to acknowledge each other’s points. The furore began when Firth pointed out: “This Prime Minister knew on Monday that our US Ambassador had written the most cringy awful 10 page email to a convicted paedophile. He then knew on Tuesday night that he’d brokered a property deal, a £1 million property deal with a convicted paedophile. He still went to the House of Commons and said to the..” she began as Craig cut across her.
Rob Rinder was forced to interject as Good Morning Britain descended into chaos (Image: ITV)
As he defended Starmer she told him: “He had full confidence in this man, and now we know even more that is a humiliation. I’m ashamed that he’s our Prime Minister.
Craig argued issues with the conservative government for 14 years but Finch continued to speak over him. “This is about our Prime Minister’s judgement today, and it is found to be, to be completely lacking. He has got no moral compass. He doesn’t know when someone is unfit for office, and he’s not strong enough to sack him… He only sacked him after 50 MPs wrote… and said he must go.”
Craig claimed: “He sacked him because new emails came out. Compared (to) the financial scandals, the money that went missing. Nobody got sacked under your lot. They hung on. The ethics advisor..” he began as Finch once again spoke over him.
“We’re 13 months into this government,” she loudly exclaimed, “and Keir Starmer promised this was going to be a new type of politics. Yet here we are, two weeks into the reset, and he’s already lost two of the top team.”
Anna Firth and Kevin Craig had a furious clash of Keir Starmer’s handling of Peter Mandelson on GMB (Image: ITV)
Good Morning Britain presenter Rob Rinder was forced to interject to try and restore order. “At every stage, Keir Starmer has defended every single one of these people. Said that he has full confidence on them. And in many respects, Angela Rayner, for example… he writes these long sort of love letters saying how wonderful they are. It’s not exactly to say the least a good look, is it?” he asked Craig.
“In 14 months, we’ve delivered over 4 million new appointments,” Craig responded. “I could shout out fastest growing economy in the G7. I could shout out the investment primary schools.”
As Finch continued to try to interject he said: “We inherited economy. It was in a meltdown.The issue is this, all this stuff, nobody with emotional intelligence would say for a second, it’s been a great week with these issues.
“Did the Prime Minister act? Did he sack people? Yes, he did, because he wants to get back to talking about what gave him this very precarious majority, and if he doesn’t deliver in six areas in three years, he’s going to get sacked (too).”
