Number 10 has claimed there was “no requirement” for Keir Starmer to formally interview Peter Mandelson before appointing him as ambassador to the US. The Times revealed last night that Starmer delegated the job entirely to Morgan McSweeney and Matthew Doyle. Don’t worry, the adults are back in the room…
The Downing Street spokesman told the Lobby briefing of press hacks this morning that the “full process that was in place at the time was followed“, and the PM has since “apologised to Epstein’s victims“. When asked if it might have been a good idea to at least chat to him for a second regardless of the ‘process’, the spokesman repeated the same line almost verbatim…
Featuring Hilary Benn staring at the floor wishing the ground would swallow him up…
Numerous babies were crying during Starmer’s short speech to mothers in Belfast. This is Starmer’s first public appearance since the Mandelson Files dropped. One was so distressed it had to be taken out of the room…
Downing Street is insisting Mandelson’s £75,000 severance payout did not contradict the government’s own official guidance on public sector exit payouts, which makes clear payouts should not be used to soften reputational damage. Speaking at the Lobby briefing of press hacks this afternoon:
“[Mandelson’s payout was] Treasury-approved severance in line with standard HMT guidance and civil service practices…”
Right… here is the official guidance in question:
“Departments should not use special severance payments as an easy alternative to proper management action, e.g., to avoid difficult decisions, disciplinary processes, unwelcome publicity, or reputational damage.”
The Foreign Office’s HR boss Mark Power is quite clear in emails released in the Mandelson Files: “There is a potential, that absent a positive indication, Peter goes public on some of his claims so there is some urgency [to reach a settlement]”. Number 10 is now demanding Mandelson hands the cash over to charity, although admits it is ultimately ‘a matter for him’. So the odds of that happening are approximately zero…
Privy Council minutes from Tuesday have now been published regarding Peter Mandelson.
“An Order striking out The Lord Mandelson from the List of Members of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.”
The Order in Council stripping Mandelson of his peerage has also been published:
Mandelson is no longer the Right Honourable…
The government is briefing that legislation to strip Mandelson of his peerage won’t come until after the King’s Speech in May. No10 says this is because it is putting together wider legislation to remove peers in general. A manufactured delay…
A brutal morning round for Nick Thomas-Symonds, who was forced to repeatedly parrot the government’s line that inadequate vetting is to blame for Starmer’s woeful judgement in appointing Mandelson. Even with reams of publicly available material revealing his continued friendship with a convicted paedophile…
He even tried the ‘we should stop talking about this’ excuse for the sake of the victims, telling Sky News:
“The Prime Minister has accepted that he made a mistake in appointing Lord Mandelson… Most importantly, the Prime Minister has apologised about this decision to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who have to be re-traumatised and go through the memory of their terrible experiences every time we have a public debate around this.”
He later pointed out on the Today programme that “previous Labour Prime Ministers had also taken a chance on appointing Peter Mandelson“. How’d that work out for them?
Douglas Alexander – a friend of Starmer’s – was asked on Sky News if the PM will be in post at the next election. He wasn’t so sure himself:
“I think he will. There are no certainties but of course I think he will lead and I think he should because, frankly, on the biggest call in this parliament he’s exercised the right judgment, which is to keep us out of someone else’s war.”
