Starmer’s premiership ‘on the ropes’, says US ambassador in leaked recording
Britain’s ambassador to Washington has said Sir Keir Starmer is “on a tightrope” amid disagreements over Peter Mandelson’s appointment and suggested Labor could “sack” him after next month’s local elections, according to reports.
In what could be seen as extremely frank comments for a career diplomat, a leaked recording released during King Charles’ visit to the US shows Sir Christian Turner saying Lord Peter Mandelson and “potentially the prime minister” were “deceived” by the affair.
Sir Christian, who replaced Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US after he was sacked over his links to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, also criticized America’s political system and said it was “remarkable” that the scandal “didn’t touch anyone” on the other side of the Atlantic.
He also said America’s only “special relationship”, which has been under great pressure for months, was not with Britain but “probably with Israel”.
The recording, made at an event held in mid-February with British students visiting Washington shortly after Sir Christian took over, was published by the US. Finance TimesHe said he got it this week.
During the question-and-answer session, Sir Christian said it was “extraordinary” that the scandal over convicted sex offender Epstein “had brought down a senior member of the royal family.” [Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor]”The British ambassador to Washington, potentially the prime minister, and yet here in the US this hasn’t really touched anyone.”
He said it was an “interesting question” about “different levels of accountability in our systems.”
Of Lord Mandelson, Sir Christian said it was a “crisis” that “nearly brought down the government and ended the prime minister’s tenure”.
He said of Sir Keir: “He was quite clearly on the ropes at one stage.” He added that the Prime Minister’s future looked “quite poignant”.
He added that Labor Party rules set a high bar for removing a sitting prime minister. The ambassador said reaching such a bar was “still quite difficult” and that Starmer was a “stubborn man” and unlikely to give up.
But he added: “The May elections are the moment I will be considering. If Labor does so badly… I suspect the party might cross that threshold and sack him; that seems to me to be the conventional wisdom.”
He continued: “If things go well, he can move on… That applies to me as a speculating citizen because I have to serve whoever is there.”
Sir Christian also said of Lord Mandelson that “the vetting thing is a bit misleading”.
“The problem was that he had a number of connections that had not yet been disclosed that embarrassed him and the government,” he added. “And presumably when this came to light, the prime minister moved to remove him.”
He also stated that he disliked the term “special relationship” in relation to the United States, describing it as “quite nostalgic, quite backward-looking, and carrying too much baggage.”
He added: “I think there’s one country that has a special relationship with the United States, and that’s probably Israel.”
His comments were made in the weeks before the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
However, he added that the UK-US link was “so strong”, adding: “There is a deep history and affinity between us. Particularly on defense and security, we are intertwined.”
But he added: “The relationship will continue to be ‘private’ if you like, but I think it will have to be different.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “These were private, unofficial comments made to a group of UK sixth form students visiting the US in early February. They are certainly not any reflection of the UK government’s position.”
