Keir Starmer just played his last card – but it won’t be enough to save him from Mandelson
Politicians hate apologising, but Keir Starmer said ‘sorry’ in a last desperate throw of the dice, writes Jonathan Walker.
Keir Starmer’s speech where he said he was sorry (Image: Getty)
Politicians hate saying sorry. But Keir Starmer played the last card available to him today, when he apologised for appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States – effectively admitting that he made a terrible mistake. In a message to the victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Mandelson’s friend, the Prime Minister said: “I want to say this. I am sorry, sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him, and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.”
That’s all very well, but the question is: why did Sir Keir ever appoint a man who had already resigned twice from top Government jobs and was known to have a relationship with Epstein? The Prime Minister is attempting to place all the blame on Mandelson himself, insisting Mandelson was asked directly about the nature of his relationship with Epstein, and it is “clear that the answers he gave were lies”.
Sir Keir insisted: “He portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew, and when that became clear and it was not true, I sacked him.
“Such deceit is incompatible with public service.”
But voters, and many of Sir Keir’s own MPs, will have their doubts about this. There had been media reports in the past about Mandelson and Epstein. At the very least, the affair shows a huge error of judgment on Keir Starmer’s part. And Labour MPs have begun saying publicly that Starmer should take responsibility – and resign.
Saying sorry is a last desperate throw of the dice by Sir Keir. It won’t work.
He made the comments at a speech today, where he had planned to attack Nigel Farage and Reform UK. Sir Keir’s message was that Labour backs “decency and tolerance” while Reform, according to Sir Keir, does not.
But he’s in no position right now to lecture anyone else about decency. And that’s the problem – how can the Prime Minister take the moral high ground ever again? How can he claim that he is fit to govern the country while other politicians are not?
His critics will argue that he’s only saying sorry because he got caught.
Labour MPs don’t believe they can go into the next election with Sir Keir as their leader. As one said: “It’s over”.
The problem they face is that they don’t know how to get rid of him. The Conservatives have a system for sacking leaders – we all remember the famous “letters” being sent to the chair of the 1922 committee, calling for a vote of no confidence. Labour does not have the same arrangements, so MPs are stuck.
But they want him gone and are determined to find a way to do it.
