Starmer’s premiership in grave peril as Angela Rayner twists the knife over his handling of Mandelson scandal: Sir Keir’s ex-Deputy forces him into humiliating climbdown with ‘ministers considering resigning to hasten his downfall’

Keir Starmer’s premiership was in grave danger on Wednesday after Angela Rayner sparked a massive Labor Party revolt over her handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal.

In a dramatic move, the former deputy prime minister forced Sir Keir into a humiliating escalation over the publication of documents relating to the disastrous Labor Party appointment of his disgraced counterpart as US ambassador.

Ms Rayner is widely seen as a possible candidate to replace Sir Keir and her decision to intervene was seen as a sign that Westminster believes her premiership is on shaky ground.

Rumors spread in Westminster on Wednesday that some ministers were even considering resigning in a bid to hasten Starmer’s downfall.

Sir Keir was further hurt yesterday when he forced Kemi Badenoch to admit she first appointed Lord Mandelson despite knowing he remained friends with Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted of child sex crimes.

The Conservative Party leader told a stunned House of Commons that the Prime Minister’s ‘absolutely shocking’ admission raised serious questions about the decisions of his and Mandelson’s mentored private secretary, Morgan McSweeney.

On Wednesday, it was claimed that some Labor MPs called on Starmer to sack McSweeney, who played a key role in Mandelson’s appointment, in order to save his job.

Following Wednesday’s admission, Labour’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Sir Keir had ‘lost confidence’ in him and said he should resign over the growing scandal.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said the Prime Minister’s confession was a ‘dark day’ for Britain and called on him to apologize to Epstein’s victims.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister insisted he was “as angry as the public” about the Labor leader’s behaviour.

In mortifying PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer says Lord Mandelson will be legally stripped of his title ‘Lord’ and kicked off the privy council

He told MPs that Lord Mandelson had ‘lied, lied and lied again’ about the ‘sheer depth and extent’ of his friendship with Epstein during the appointment process and had ‘betrayed his country’.

But Downing Street has struggled to explain why the Prime Minister insisted on the appointment after Lord Mandelson was said to have sided with one of the world’s most notorious sex offenders and even stayed at his New York mansion following his conviction for child sex offences.

On a dramatic day:

• Lord Mandelson’s membership in the King’s Privy Council was revoked.
• The Metropolitan Police risked a clash with the House of Commons by asking the government not to reveal key details about Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
• Documents revealed by the Mail revealed Lord Mandelson continued to visit Epstein in 2013; This is a year later than previously thought and five years after he was convicted of molesting a minor.
• Other documents in the Epstein files show the Labor peer took out a £1.7 million loan to buy a luxury flat in Rio de Janeiro, despite claiming he never owned a property.
• It has been revealed that Lord Mandelson used Epstein’s wife, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, to broker Bill Clinton’s attendance at the Labor Party’s 2002 conference.

Ms Badenoch yesterday forced a House of Commons vote ordering the release of hundreds of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment, including private messages shared with the Prime Minister and Mr McSweeney, who slammed the appointment.

In a pincer movement with rebel Labor MPs, he used a House of Commons motion in December 2024 to demand the release of all documents relating to this fateful decision.

Sir Keir attempted to neutralize the release by arguing that Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald would be asked to review all documents to ensure they did not harm national security or ‘international relations’.

But it saw Ms Badenoch accuse him of trying to “cover up” evidence of a “catastrophic lack of judgement” while also managing to anger Labor MPs led by Ms Rayner.

In a rare intervention since resigning as deputy Prime Minister over unpaid stamp duty on a seaside house, Ms Rayner loosened No 10’s grip on the process, arguing that review of the material should be handed over to Parliament’s intelligence and security committee.

Noting the ‘public disgust’ about the ‘sickening behavior of Peter Mandelson’, he warned ministers that an independent process was necessary to maintain the ‘public trust’.

A photo released as part of the Epstein files shows Lord Mandelson talking to a woman wearing a white bathrobe with underwear.

Pictured: Mandelson and Osborne in 2010

His intervention triggered panic on the Labor Party benches; Labor chief Sir Alan Campbell was seen debating frantically before accepting Ms Rayner’s proposal – just an hour after Sir Keir rejected the idea.

After the Prime Minister came downstairs, the motion to publish the Mandelson files was accepted by MPs without a vote. The files will now be examined by the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which has high-level authority.

But on Wednesday there were doubts about how much material would be released after the Metropolitan Police warned against publishing anything that could undermine its criminal investigation into Lord Mandelson’s activities.

Scotland Yard is investigating whether emails showing Lord Mandelson sent sensitive information to the Epstein market while he served as Labor Party’s business secretary during the financial crisis could constitute misconduct in public office, an offense potentially punishable by life imprisonment.

But the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, told MPs on Wednesday that police cannot prevent the publication of documents ordered by parliament, saying: ‘They cannot dictate to this House.’

Labor MPs from all walks of life lined up behind Ms Rayner as she questioned the Government’s decision to appoint Lord Mandelson.

Dame Meg Hillier, Labor chair of the House of Commons Treasury committee, said there was consensus among MPs that they wanted ‘as much public information as possible’.

Liverpool MP Paula Barker said she was ’embarrassed’ by the government’s handling of the scandal.

Former frontbencher Andy McDonald warned Sir Keir’s approach would ‘mask up’ the scandal.

Meanwhile, the Mail on Wednesday revealed more damning emails from the Epstein files, including evidence that Lord Mandelson visited the pedophile’s home more recently than previously thought.

The documents released include an Epstein bank statement with a $25,000 transfer to Peter Mandelson; but the colleague says he does not remember receiving the money and believes it is fake

An email dated May 2012 shows Epstein informing his assistant Lesley Groff that Lord Mandelson would be staying at his Manhattan home, to which she responded: ‘Wow… I hope the reporters don’t find out about this!’

But the Mail has uncovered a note from Epstein’s assistant from almost a year later (April 2013) confirming Lord Mandelson was going to ‘Jeffrey’s house’ for dinner at 7.30pm.

And a sensational new email suggests that Epstein’s accomplice Maxwell, now serving 20 years in prison, acted as an intermediary to arrange for Bill Clinton to speak at the annual Labor Party conference in 2002.

Shortly after leaving office, the former US president gave a powerful speech at the Labor Party conference held in Blackpool between 30 September and 3 October 2002.

Other emails also cast doubt on Lord Mandelson’s claims that he ‘did not remember’ offering to buy Epstein a £2 million flat in Rio de Janeiro.

Files show Lord Mandelson discussed buying the flat in Brazil using his offshore Panamanian company with ‘chief life advisor’ Epstein. Files show he was approved for a £1.68m loan from HSBC to buy the flat in London, which was secured by his £2.4m home.

Lord Mandelson denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein.