Starmer let Mandelson quit Labour last night rather than go through the awkward business of expelling him, following yet more revelations about the Dark Lord’s enduring friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Guido thought it useful to remind co-conspirators of just how many versions of events Mandelson has offered over the years:
“The only people that were there were the housekeepers, never were there any young women or girls, or people that he was preying on or engaging with in that sort of ghastly predatory way that we subsequently found out he was doing. Epstein was never there.”
He added “I think the issue is that because I was a gay man in his circle I was kept separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life.”
Mandelson may have resigned the Labour whip, but he remains a peer. Asked whether he will be removed from the Roll of the Peerage, Labour ministers have so far stonewalled – offering only that he is “currently on a leave of absence from the House of Lords” since he was appointed as US ambassador. The government would have to propose and pass a specific piece of legislation to remove his peerage. How long will Starmer let him cling on to his peerage is the next question…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”