As Sir Keir demands a Putin-style closure of RT and highlights Tory links to Russians, he may want to take a look at whom his own advisers have been rubbing shoulders with. Yesterday Guido pointed out that while Labour now calls for the banning of the UK channel of Russia Today, Starmer’s own head of strategy Deborah Mattinson appeared on the channel just ahead of the 2019 election. Then there’s Mandy…

It’s well known Mandelson’s been advising Starmer – increasingly obviously as Labour plays more and more out of the New Labour playbook. In March 2014, the UK put top Putin advisor Sergei Glazyev on the sanctions list, a man who – among other things – claimed unrest in Ukraine was “financed by American institutions in cooperation with their European partners” who also “financed neo-Nazis”. Who proceeded to share a stage with Glazyev two months after his sanctioning? Lord Mandelson.

According to Linkedin records, Mandy’s Global Counsel, the strategy firm that definitely is not a lobbying firm, also has 5 staff working on behalf of clients with Russian interests. What with this, Mattinson, 13 Labour MPs and Lords backing Russia over NATO, and Young Labour, perhaps Sir Keir might want to get his house in order soon if he plans on lecturing the government…

*A previous version of this article said Global Counsel worked on behalf of Russian clients, they say they work for clients with Russian interests. According to Global Counsel they have no Russian clients nor do they work for any Russian entities. They do not however reveal their client list so we have no way of verifying the accuracy of this claim.