Mandelson-Epstein scandal is 'really embarassing' for Starmer, Yorkshire MP says
A Yorkshire MP has said it is “really embarrassing” if Sir Keir Starmer was not told about Peter Mandelson’s supportive emails to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein before he defended him in the House of Commons.
Sir Keir, who picked the Labour grandee to be the UK’s representative in Washington, made the decision to withdraw him after emails were published showing Lord Mandelson sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.
The day before Sir Keir had defended Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister’s Questions, saying he retained his “confidence”.
It has now emerged that Downing Street officials were aware of emails between Lord Mandelson and Epstein when Sir Keir defended him during PMQs.
Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake has said if this was true it would be “really embarrassing”.
She told the BBC it felt like Sir Keir’s No10 operation had “gone into the bunker”.
“We saw through the welfare reforms that they did the same again,” the Labour MP said.
“They didn’t tell Keir, they didn’t tell the Prime Minister how bad it was on the back benches.
“So, you know, he was putting statements out saying, ‘oh, some people can sound off’.
“Well, the strength of feeling in the PLP was much, much deeper than that.
“And again, I just think that whoever’s gatekeeping the information to the Prime Minister needs to stop. They need to be getting stuff to him much earlier.”
The Foreign Office received a media enquiry outlining details of Lord Mandelson’s messages to Epstein on Tuesday, which was passed to No 10, it is understood.
The cache of emails obtained by Bloomberg showed that on the day before Epstein reported to jail in June 2008, Lord Mandelson told him “your friends stay with you and love you”.
A Government source said Sir Oliver Robbins, the permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, asked Lord Mandelson about the emails and did not hear back until Wednesday afternoon.
The Prime Minister is understood not to have been aware of the contents of the emails until Wednesday evening – after he told the Commons he had “confidence” in Lord Mandelson during PMQs at midday.
The decision to sack Lord Mandelson with immediate effect was taken on Thursday morning and announced shortly afterwards.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office said the emails showed “the depth and extent” of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment”.
The emails were sent from an account which had long been closed and were not available during the vetting process.
Allies of the peer told The Times that he admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years.
Sir Keir and the Foreign Office are facing questions over what they knew and when about the ex-ambassador’s ties to Epstein.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir has “very serious questions to answer” and called for “full transparency”.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, has demanded answers from the Foreign Secretary on the vetting process for Lord Mandelson.
Sir Keir is under pressure after the second scandal-hit departure for the Government in a week after Angela Rayner quit over her tax affairs.
Ms Blake added that it is “frustrating” that the good work the Government has done is “not cutting through”.
“Instead, we’ve had a number of kind of own goals, and that has meant that we’ve slipped heavily in the polls, and that we seem to be more interested in focusing on each other rather than what’s in the best interest of the country at the moment.”