Starmer leadership speculation ‘serious’ but task ahead ‘very clear’, says Brown – UK politics live | Politics
Brown: Starmer is an honest man but faces a serious task amid leadership speculation
As the speculation ends Starmer’s It will come as the Prime Minister continues, Brown He came to his defense saying that he was. “an honest man”.
But he acknowledged that Starmer faces a problem. “really” He struggles to keep his job.
“I mean, there’s always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair. It happens to everyone about how their future should be measured,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“But this is a serious situation and the mandate is clear. Our mandate is to clean up the system, clean up the system completely, put an end to corruption and unethical behavior. And if we don’t do that, we will pay a heavy price.”
When asked if Starmer was the right man to take the country forward, he said: “I can look into his eyes and see that he is an honest man. He wants to do the right things.
“Maybe he was too slow to do the right things, but now he needs to do the right things and let’s decide what he does based on what happens over the next few months when he tries to clean up the system, and I believe (he) will try to do that.”
important events
Alleged leak against Epstein could cause huge business damage, says Brown
Brown Market-sensitive government information said: mandelson Alleged leak to Epstein It could have caused “major commercial damage”.
The former prime minister, who appointed Mandelson as trade minister in his government in 2008, said he felt the following: “Shocked, sad, angry, betrayed, disappointed.”
“This was financially confidential information, which meant that Britain was therefore at risk, its currency was at risk and some of the trades that would take place as a result would be speculative and “There is no doubt that great commercial damage can and perhaps has been caused.” Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
It comes like this Liberal Democrats They called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial regulator, to immediately investigate Mandelson, citing the apparent leaks. may have led to insider trading.
Daisy CooperIn his letter to the FCA, the St Albans MP and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats said sharing confidential information with a private financier “could easily have given an unfair and lucrative advantage in the financial markets to Epstein himself or his associates”.
Our banking correspondent Kalyeena Makortoff More on this story below:
Police executed search warrants at two properties linked to Mandelson Within the scope of the investigation for “abuse of office in crimes related to public office”. Officers searched a house near Regent’s Park in central London and a property in Wiltshire on Friday. Mandelson has been living in a rented property in Wiltshire since being sacked as US ambassador over his links to the late convicted child sex offender.
You can read our full report on this story here:
Brown: Starmer is an honest man but faces a serious task amid leadership speculation
As the speculation ends Starmer’s It will come as the Prime Minister continues, Brown He came to his defense saying that he was. “an honest man”.
But he acknowledged that Starmer faces a problem. “really” He struggles to keep his job.
“I mean, there’s always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair. It happens to everyone about how their future should be measured,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“But this is a serious situation and the mandate is clear. Our mandate is to clean up the system, clean up the system completely, put an end to corruption and unethical behavior. And if we don’t do that, we will pay a heavy price.”
When asked if Starmer was the right man to take the country forward, he said: “I can look into his eyes and see that he is an honest man. He wants to do the right things.
“Maybe he was too slow to do the right things, but now he needs to do the right things and let’s decide what he does based on what happens over the next few months when he tries to clean up the system, and I believe (he) will try to do that.”
Gordon Brown says there is a systematic failure in government to carry out proper scrutiny
former prime minister Gordon Brown Said there was one “systemic failure” The way senior appointments are made in government.
While he believes star player it was “He was misled and betrayed.” with mandelson When he appointed himself ambassador to the United States, he said it was “not an adequate explanation for what was going on.”
“There is a systemic failure to conduct appropriate scrutiny. There needs to be proper procedures and, in my view, public hearings for anyone who would be in a senior position representing the British government,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Writing in the Guardian, Brown said: “I deeply regret” making Mandelson a peer and bringing him back into government in 2008 as business secretary. He said he was told at the time that Mandelson’s record as EU trade commissioner was “impeccable” and that he had no knowledge of any Epstein connections.
“No one can say I promoted him out of nepotism,” he wrote. “I did this even though he was far from a friend to me because I thought his unquestionable knowledge of Europe and beyond could help us as we deal with the global financial crisis.
“Now I know I was wrong.”
You can read Brown’s entire opinion piece here:
PM says ‘significant amount of material’ needs to be reviewed before Mandelson papers are released
Good morning and welcome to our UK politics blog.
Prime minister Keir Starmer one said “very significant amount of material” regarding the appointment Peter Mandelson As the UK ambassador to the US, any documents will need to be reviewed before being released.
Starmer believes in documents Will prove Mandelson lied about the extent of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein He is in the process of being vetted before being given the top diplomatic post in Washington last year.
The Prime Minister has previously said he wanted to release the documents sooner and raise them at PMQs, but police said this could risk damaging a future investigation or legal process.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), a cross-party group of MPs and colleagues with access to highly sensitive information, will play a role in screening emails, messages and documents, which could number in the tens of thousands, before they are made public.
Starmer wrote to ISC chairman Lord Beamish, saying: “It is important that the documents are presented to parliament as soon as possible; he noted that there is likely to be a very significant amount of material that will need to be reviewed to determine whether it is within scope.”
He has done little to quell anger among Labor MPs over his handling of the scandal. some openly suggest that the prime minister should consider his own position, at the same time He called for the firing of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. He was instrumental in the decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador.
Meanwhile, Scotland Yard said investigations were continuing. Police searched two properties linked to Mandelson He is under investigation into allegations that he passed market-sensitive information to Epstein.
former prime minister Gordon Brown he said We “deeply regret” making Mandelson a peer and appointing him to a ministerial post in 2008. Writing in the Guardian, Brown said the news that Mandelson had passed information to Epstein while he was trade minister “A betrayal of everything we stand for as a country.”
