Starmer ‘angry’ after Mandelson sacking and insists he need not resign as PM

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “angry” after he was forced to sack Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

The embattled Prime Minister, who is facing calls from some Labour backbenchers to resign, also insisted he did not need to stand down.

The Prime Minister sacked Lord Mandelson last week but has faced questions about his judgment in appointing the peer, whose friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein was public knowledge, in the first place.

Sir Keir gave public backing to Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday only to sack him the following day after the publication of email exchanges with Epstein.

Asked whether he was angry with Lord Mandelson, he told Channel 4 News: “I’m angry to have been put in that position.”

Adding that he was “not angry with elements of the system”, Sir Keir said: “In retrospect, of course I think it would be better if the detailed allegations that have been made in relation to Peter had been put in front of me before PMQs.

“But the team were trying to get answers out of him in relation to those questions and that was the right thing to do.”

In a fresh headache for the Prime Minister, one of his senior aides, Paul Ovenden, has quit the Government after a series of derogatory sexual remarks he made about Diane Abbott in 2017 were published by ITV News.

His departure, alongside that of Lord Mandelson and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, make for the loss of three senior figures in the course of two weeks.

The upheaval within Government, alongside Labour’s poor polling position, has led some backbenchers to call for the Prime Minister to resign.

Asked whether he would quit if the party “felt it was necessary”, the Prime Minister told Channel 4 News: “No, because I’m absolutely clear what the task is in front of me.

“We have a crossroads, really, in terms of the future of this country.

“We go forward with Labour for national renewal, a patriotic call about this country and taking this country forward, true patriotism, or we have division and decline under Reform.”

Earlier, Sir Keir told broadcasters that Lord Mandelson went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment.

But he added: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”

The Prime Minister said he was not satisfied with Lord Mandelson’s responses to questions asked by officials about the correspondence with Epstein.

Emails published by Bloomberg included passages in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

Sir Keir was aware when he stood up at Prime Minister’s Questions that further revelations were due about Lord Mandelson, because the then ambassador had acknowledged “very embarrassing” messages would surface.

The Prime Minister also knew the Foreign Office had asked Lord Mandelson questions about them, but he insisted he did not know about the content of the emails – or Lord Mandelson’s response to the official inquiries – until Wednesday night.

Labour MP Andy McDonald said “morale is very low” and an urgent change of course from the leadership is needed, adding: “The Prime Minister’s future is in his own hands.”

Speaking to the PA news agency, the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP added: “The events of last week have left people bewildered.

“The appointment of Peter Mandelson in the first place, knowing what was already known, raised a big question mark about judgment, but events as they unfolded last week have shaken people’s trust and confidence and there are serious questions for the Prime Minister.”

Mr McDonald also told PA there appeared to be a “complete double standard” in the treatment of people within the party, contrasting the initial defence of Lord Mandelson with the removal of the whip for backbenchers who rebelled against the two-child benefit cap last year.

But David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, insisted Sir Keir must remain in place.

Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Anfield, Mr Lammy was asked if the PM should heed calls to go.

He replied: “It’s tough in Government. We still are amidst a cost-of-living crisis. We still have yet to renew Britain to what it needs to become and can be in the years ahead.

“I believe this is the time to stay the course. It’s the time for purpose, and it’s the time to redouble our efforts on behalf of the British people.”

Elsewhere, the Labour chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee called for top civil servants to answer questions from her committee over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

Dame Emily Thornberry called on Sir Olly Robbins, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, and the head of the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team to come before the committee “urgently”.

“It is in the public interest for the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) and Cabinet Office to appear in front of our committee urgently,” she said.

Both departments are understood to have said they are unavailable to appear before the committee before the Commons goes into recess on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, MPs will debate the appointment of Lord Mandelson in the Commons on Tuesday, after Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle granted veteran Tory Sir David Davis an emergency debate.