Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister is dead and buried | Politics | News
Keir Starmer’s political corpse is slowly but surely approaching its final resting place. His failures over the nasty Peter Mandelson scandal ensured that his time as Labor leader was dead and buried.
Civil servant Sir Olly Robbins, who attended Starmer’s lovers’ graveyard last week, returned to haunt the Prime Minister today. With the air of an undertaker, he carried out one of the most brutal works of destruction in modern Westminster history.
Displaying cool courtesy, professionalism and seriousness, Sir Olly eviscerated the Prime Minister’s version of events surrounding the appointment of the embarrassed Peer. Less than 24 hours earlier, Sir Keir had accused the former Brexit bogeyman of a “deliberate” cover-up of the former US ambassador’s botched review.
He said the State Department chief was dismissed for the “unforgivable” crime of ignoring advice from the security services to let Mandelson off. But a day is a long time in politics. Sir Olly began his destructive and methodical destruction of parliament’s Boothroyd Chamber shortly after 9am on Tuesday morning.
The bespectacled former mandarin said Downing Street had taken a “condescending” approach to Mandelson’s review, while the Cabinet Office did not initially think any review was necessary “at all”. And he delivered another coldly brutal blow by insisting Starmer’s private office had put “pressure” on his team to complete the appointment on time. Donald TrumpThe opening of .
The coup-de-grace No 10 pulled off when it revealed it was seeking to appoint Sir Keir’s then communications chief Matthew Doyle to a senior diplomatic post.
Sir Olly even claimed he was told to keep the process secret from then Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Doyle, who has since denied Robbins’ allegations, would later be declared a peer before resigning from the Labor Party whip over his relationship with a convicted pedophile.
It all comes after Ed Miliband torched the Prime Minister during a series of morning broadcast interviews, saying he “stayed away” from Mandelson when he was Labor leader.
How does Starmer react to all this, is this a saga that will continue? Kemi Badenoch was in hiding this afternoon as she led another brutal Commons attack on the scandal despite support from the Cabinet falling apart. Labor MPs appear in no mood to launch a leadership challenge at the moment, especially ahead of tough local elections in just two weeks.
However, everything may change after May 7.
