PM Sir Keir Starmer’s judgement has been questioned yet again after more lurid details of Labour grandee Lord Mandelson’s relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson has been forced to resign – again – this time over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein (Image: Getty Images)
As the last remnants of shady Lord Peter Mandelson’s contribution to public life gurgle around the plughole before disappearing into the sewer, the appalling judgment of our pitiful prime minister has been laid bare. Yet again.
While a spotlight is rightly shone on the self-styled Prince of Darkness and the questionable company he fawns over, Sir Keir Starmer has questions to answer as to how a man so embroiled in scandal and controversy – and so obviously blinded by wealth and seduced by opulence – could have even been seen fit to be the UK ambassador to the US.
Mandelson’s involvement with prolific paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – the latest and most appalling in a long line of scandals – sums up our injudicious PM perfectly. And the hypocrisy of Labour in a nutshell.
His most famous statement encapsulates everything you need to know about the most slippery of politicians. In 1998, he said: “We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich.” Himself included.
During a four-decade political career, Mandelson, ennobled by Gordon Brown in 2008, has never been far from controversy.
He was caught with his pants down twice during Sir Tony Blair’s Government and forced to quit in disgrace, first over an undeclared loan from Labour millionaire Geoffrey Robinson, and then for intervening in an application for UK citizenship for billionaire Indian businessman Srichand Hinduja.
He was later made a trade commissioner in Brussels.
But the latest, and by far the most disturbing on a lengthy roll call of scandal, involves his murky relationship with sex offender Epstein, some of which, oddly, he appears to be rather forgetful about.
Disgraced Mandelson – who remains in the Lords – has been shamed yet again (Image: File)
Mandelson, a devoted disciple of Sir Tony, ingratiated himself with Sir Keir in the run-up to Labour’s 2024 General Election victory and, like the human oil slick he is, wormed his way into the inner sanctum of the party machine, offering pearls of wisdom on policy and campaigning.
The motive? One last plum job for this most shameless status-seeker.
And he was rewarded with the our man in Washington gig, even claiming to all who would listen that upon meeting Donald Trump for the first time, the US president gushed: “God, you’re a good-looking fellow, aren’t you?”
The permanent grin worn by this charmless chancer has now been erased.
In a letter to Labour’s general secretary, Hollie Ridley, Mandelson said: “I have been further linked to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, and I feel regretful and sorry about this.
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.
“While doing this, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party, and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.”
Mandelson has done little else but “cause further embarrassment” during a scandal-plagued career as a Labour pen pusher.
After he held his seat in Hartlepool in the 2001 General Election, he used his victory speech to deliver a defiant message in which he said: “I’m a fighter, not a quitter.”
Well, history records otherwise…
But how on Earth was this odious individual ever allowed near the levers of power? On so many occasions. And for so long?
Incredibly, he still remains a member of the Lords, shamelessly milking it.
After his putrid past, it would seem utterly extraordinary that anyone could have nodded through his appointment. And not any appointment, but the most prestigious diplomatic post in the Government.
But this is Sir Keir, a man who leads a Government so out of touch with reality that perhaps it should come as no real surprise.
In what may be his biggest mistake, the Prime Minister even thought it sensible to appoint Mandelson as Britain’s top emissary. This – followed by calls for him to be stripped of his peerage – is all you need to know about Sir Keir’s political nous.
Britain now needs to know what, if any, vetting was carried out prior to his elevation and who, ultimately, gave him the job.
Thankfully, sulking and self-pitying Mandelson has been booted out of public life for good. And this time, there is no chance of a comeback.
It’s high time spineless Sir Keir followed him.
