‘It’s over for Starmer. The only questions are when, how, and how painful’
A.A former Labor prime minister famously said: “A week is a long time in politics.”
This is especially true for Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, who until Friday was managing director of Global Counsel, the lobbying firm he founded with Peter Mandelson.
Mr Wegg-Prosser was a close friend of his former Labor colleague for decades, serving as one of his key advisers and even becoming director of Downing Street’s strategic communications unit under Tony Blair.
But earlier in the week, as Westminster was rocked by the revelation that Lord Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a cabinet minister, Mr Wegg-Prosser was at a drinks reception at the Foreign Office.
He was there as part of an event celebrating the UK’s relationship with the US; State Department sources insist the event was organized by an outside group using one of the large, impressive rooms.
But emails released as part of the Epstein dossiers reveal the true extent of the billionaire pedophile’s involvement in the founding of the lobbying firm, and on Friday Mr Wegg-Prosser announced his decision to stand down, concluding that his relationship with Lord Mandelson had caused business losses and that was why he had to leave.
He insisted he did nothing wrong. But the presence of one of Lord Mandelson’s close political allies at the heart of Whitehall on Monday shows how pervasive Mandelson’s influence has been over Labour, the government and British politics for decades, as Keir Starmer found out to his cost.
There is an uproar among some Labor MPs over Mandelson’s actions and the government’s handling of this week’s results in a way that could prove fatal for the Labor leader.
A Labor MP said: Independent: “Finished”. We are told that the only question now is “when, how and how painful.”
There was also intense skepticism about the idea that potentially sacrificing Morgan McSweeney, the chief of staff who is close to Mandelson and whom the Prime Minister is currently fighting to retain, would be enough to save Sir Keir.
“This is like throwing a branch into a raging river and hoping it becomes a dam,” said one minister. Independent Mr. McSweeney was supposed to leave, but he actually should have left “months ago.”
After the Prime Minister was forced to make a U-turn on Wednesday to release all the investigative documents on Mandelson, many Labor MPs echoed the same two words about his hopes of staying in power as they drowned their sorrows in parliament’s Foreigners’ Bar: “It’s over.”
There was also anger over the government’s effort to direct a vote to make government documents about Mandelson public. No 10 agreed to Tory broadcast demands but wanted ‘national security’ concerns to be addressed. Labor MPs, led by Angela Rayner, feared it might be a cover-up and forced Downing Street to go downhill.
Worse still, there was widespread suspicion on Wednesday night when MPs received word that the prime minister planned to give a speech on Thursday, hours after his humiliating escalation, and present himself as a “defender of an honest and tolerant Britain”. The speech was designed to take on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the tough Westminster by-election by highlighting the government’s ‘Pride in Place’ plan for local areas. However, MPs expressed shock at this move.
“I can’t believe it,” said one. “Who told him it was a good idea? It was something that made sense last Friday. But why didn’t anyone say ‘we should do this’ when all this was happening?”
There is now a mixture of anger and fear in the party about the impact the scandal could have on Labour’s byelection and subsequent election prospects. There are concerns that the government is involved in a series of documents about Mandelson that could overshadow this month’s vote, as well as elections for English councils and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments in May.
While Labor has always faced an uphill battle in the Gorton and Denton byelections, there were hopes that this was a chance to show that Reformation’s momentum could be stopped in its tracks ahead of the far-reaching election in May.
But one Labor MP said: “Farage couldn’t have written this. It allows him to portray politicians as ‘in charge’, part of some sort of elite, helping each other rather than voters. A complete disaster for a seat where everyone is watching us and there is pressure to prove Reform can be stopped.”
A government insider said they hoped they could win the by-election before the latest announcements. “But since then, these hopes have diminished day by day.”
The anger towards Mandelson cannot be underestimated.
A Labor MP said: “Everyone is furious. The financial crash was the worst crisis since the Second World War and he was shilling the people who caused it.”
Another said: “When Alistair Darling was at the Treasury he always felt he was fighting Gordon Brown. Now it turns out he’s fighting Wall Street, not Downing Street.”
The Mandelson scandal and the controversy it sparked have also overshadowed the Conservative Party’s recent vote in the House of Commons to remove two highly controversial child benefit caps; It was a move that insiders hoped would help the party win in Gorton and Denton.
And so, once again, Labor is struggling to get its message across, having been blown off course by other events.
At the same time, an extraordinary poll this week showed that 95 percent of Brits have heard of the Mandelson scandal.
Since the start of the new year, Sir Keir has been desperately trying to reach ‘disruption’ with the public. The bad news for him and his government is that they have succeeded, at least in the case of Mandelson.
But instead of the government helping with living costs, this is about a scandal involving a man who helped appoint a Labor prime minister and now looks set to cost someone else his job.
However, it is unclear what will happen next. There is speculation that Sir Keir could make a sweeping reshuffle to strengthen his position, but there is anger within the ranks against the idea. “I don’t want to move,” said one minister, “I’m good at my job.”
Leadership challengers Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner are being urged to take action by MPs.
Mr Streeting’s connections to Mandelson also took their toll on him. The decision to remove photos of the two from the internet only emphasized the close bond between the two.
One MP said: “Wes was definitely tainted by the friendship. He was always part of the Mandelson/McSweeney club.”
Another MP noted that the future of the party currently depends on the actions of “those who scheme and plan.”
But there is a growing feeling that a coup will be launched if HMRC publishes its report into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs and fails to pay £30,000 in stamp duty. This led Rayner to resign as deputy prime minister last year, claiming it was a mistake.
One of Ms Rayner’s supporters said: “Angela’s got the numbers [to launch a leadership bid]. There are 80 MPs who will support him. But he can’t realistically do that with this tax issue hanging over his head.”
However, there are fears of being dragged into the chaos of the Conservative Party, where they have changed leaders in recent years.
A former minister who was previously loyal to Sir Keir said: Independent He had to go, but the process had to be handled carefully because Labor had promised stability in the country when elected in 2024 after years of Tory psychodrama. They said it was the stability of the government, not the prime minister.
