Starmer-Mandelson latest: PM could be finished and looks ‘weak, gullible and naive’, Harriet Harman warns

Conservative MP Matt Vickers accused the prime minister of making a “complete error of judgment” in appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

Speaking to Times Radio this morning he said: [The PM] “He knew that Mandelson continued to have a relationship with this man after he was charged.”

He added: “This is one of the most evil, sick, depraved, despicable people to ever walk the face of the earth. The man Keir Starmer chose to appoint as ambassador as he is close friends with him. This is completely unacceptable.”

The shadow policing minister said: “He has lost the trust of his own MPs, he has lost the trust of the country. It is time for Keir Starmer to go.”

Our political correspondent Athena Stavrou reports:

A Labor colleague has claimed he was effectively told to “shut up” when he raised concerns about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.

Lord Glasman told Times Radio he had written a memo advising the government to stop appointing Mandelson but had been roughed up by “almost everyone”.

He said: “I wrote a note – ‘don’t just appoint’. The phrase I used was: ‘he was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

“What have I achieved? [back] He had negotiated the Good Friday Agreement, he had made the Lisbon Treaty, there was a trade deal to be done. “Mandelson was the best person to deal with the complexities of the trade deal.”

He noted that it was not the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who told him to step back.

“He wasn’t the one who came to me and told me to shut up,” he said.

“It was basically nothing. You know, I got a message to be quiet.”

Labor MP Patrick Hurley said he was “100 per cent behind the prime minister” but should have “trusted his instincts more”.

The Southport MP told Times Radio this morning: “The Prime Minister knows what he’s doing and he gets there in the end, but I think he needs to trust his instincts more and not rely on some of the advice he’s given.”

He said the Mandelson scandal was a “distraction on steroids”, especially with by-elections in Manchester due in three weeks, and that “something has to give”.

Britain will “turn the corner quicker” if the government backs Sir Keir Starmer, a minister has said.

Asked whether the Prime Minister was a “dragger” on Labor, Home Secretary Mike Tapp told Sky News: “We’re starting to turn the corner.

“I believe if we stay loyal to Keir Starmer, and we will, then the corner will turn quicker and people will start to feel it.

“But I completely understand the anger and sadness about what happened with the appointment of Peter Mandelson. I completely agree with that and that’s why I’m really pleased to see Keir Starmer make a sincere, heartfelt apology.”

He added that Sir Keir had been “clearly” lied to during Lord Mandelson’s review process and said: “I trust that, I trust Keir Starmer.

“Let’s see what comes out of the documents. I think transparency is vital and that’s what we’re getting from this government.”

A Labor MP has admitted “something has to give” for the party to move on after the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Patrick Hurley has called on the prime minister to make “some changes to backroom staff” after apologizing for “believing Mandelson’s lies” about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

“As a government we have a great story to tell but it’s all being overshadowed,” he told Times Radio.

“And when people overshadow really important, really good policy announcements like this, something has to give. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know something has to give. I know something has to change.”

He added: “The bottom line is we don’t have these distractions anymore because they’re not just a regular distraction in Westminster. This is distraction on steroids.”

On Thursday, MPs responsible for deciding which documents will be used to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador said ministers should get their message to them.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) wrote a letter to the prime minister on Thursday saying all “electronic communications and minutes of all meetings” between Mandelson and ministers, government officials and special advisers during his time as US ambassador should be handed over.

But on Friday morning Immigration Minister Mike Tapp said he had not yet been asked to hand over his communications with the former Labor member.

“I wasn’t asked,” he told BBC Breakfast. “But I contacted Lord Mandelson and this was after my first morning round as minister, I refused to defend him and he sent me his resignation letter.

“So I’m probably not in his good books, and I don’t care, because we don’t need people like that in government or around government in any way, shape, or form.”

Sir Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to sack his controversial chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.

McSweeney was blamed by Labor MPs for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador and bringing him back to the heart of Labor government.

Asked if he trusted McSweeney, Immigration Minister Mike Tapp said he “still trusts him”.

“It’s for him that the team has been deployed around Keir Starmer but my personal view of Morgan McSweeney is that he’s always been very effective,” he told LBC.

“He helped reform the Labor Party and helped us get elected.

“Of course I’m not at number 10, so I don’t see the day-to-day developments and operations. But of course I trust him.”

Political correspondent Athena Stavrou reports:

Senior government officials will have to get their message across to Peter Mandelson as the Prime Minister prepares to release dossiers on his decision to appoint his former counterpart as US ambassador despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The government is seeking to publish Mandelson’s review papers in the hope that transparency will help Sir Keir Starmer weather the political storm threatening his leadership.

On Wednesday, the prime minister handed over to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) the power to decide which documents should not be made public due to national security concerns.

In a letter to the prime minister on Thursday, the committee outlined the scope of material it expects the government to deliver.

This included all “electronic communications and minutes of all meetings” between ministers, government officials and special advisers during Mandelson’s time as US ambassador.

Reports have suggested that Angela Rayner may make a leadership bid.

The Daily Mail reports that Sir Keir’s former aide, who left the government after underpaying stamp duty on a new property, told friends he was “ready” to launch a leadership campaign.

A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: “We do not recognize these allegations.”

Sir Keir Starmer remains under pressure over the Peter Mandelson scandal as leadership speculation intensifies.

Backbenchers have called for either chief of staff Morgan McSweeney to be sacked or Sir Keir himself to resign following the bombshell revelation about Lord Mandelson’s dealings with the child sex offender.

In a speech on Thursday, the prime minister insisted that “none of us knew the depths of darkness” of his colleague’s relationship with Epstein when he was appointed ambassador to the US last year.

But a handful of Labor MPs, including John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner, have publicly suggested Sir Keir should consider his own position, although others have expressed reservations about the prospect of an uprising without an obvious opponent.

Amid growing uncertainty over his political future, Sir Keir said on Thursday he shared his colleagues’ “anger and disappointment” over the saga but vowed to continue as prime minister.