Keir Starmer will finally break his silence on the Mandelson scandal today as Labour MPs openly warn he could be ‘gone’ in months.
The PM will field questions for the first time since the sacking of the US ambassador over extraordinary emails sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
On the eve of Donald Trump‘s state visit, the government benches are seething with fury over the latest example of the premier’s dire judgment.
MPs are openly warning that Sir Keir – who entered No10 with a massive majority just last year – only has months to turn things around.
The May elections have been identified as a make-or-break moment, with fears Nigel Farage could see another huge surge.
However, Sir Keir is facing even more immediate challenges over what was known when about Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. The PM will be out and about unveiling details of a new nuclear power deal with America later.
Keir Starmer will field questions today for the first time since the sacking of the US ambassador over extraordinary emails sent to Jeffrey Epstein
Pictured: Lord Mandelson (left) in a fluffy white dressing gown enjoying a chat with Epstein (right)
It has emerged that Downing Street became aware of the damning correspondence on Tuesday – two days before he was sacked.
The Daily Mail can reveal No 10 was told then that the emails contained suggestions by Lord Mandelson that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged.
But sources insisted that the information, which came in a 2,000-word memo from Bloomberg News which was seeking comment from Lord Mandelson, was not shared with Sir Keir, who told MPs during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions that he had ‘confidence’ in his man in Washington.
Meanwhile, Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Oliver Robbins, formerly Theresa May‘s bungling Brexit chief, was seeking a response from Lord Mandelson about the emails, which only came later – on Wednesday afternoon.
On Thursday morning, the Foreign Office said that the ‘suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein‘s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information’ and that ‘in light of that… he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect’.
The revelation adds to pressure on the PM’s all-powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, with several MPs calling for him to be sacked.
Left-winger Richard Burgon told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that he expects Sir Keir to be ‘gone’ by next summer.
‘Lots of MPs are looking to the elections next May, the opinion polls suggest it’s going to be a complete disaster unfortunately,’ he said.
‘I think it’s inevitable that if May’s elections go as people predict, and the opinion polls predict, then I think Starmer will be gone at that time.
‘It feels like we are years and years into an unpopular government, rather than a year into a government that’s just got rid of the Conservatives. We’re losing votes to the left, we’re going to be losing seats to the right.
‘We face a real threat for the first time in our country’s history of what I would consider to be a far-right extremist government – it’s the Prime Minister’s duty to stop that happening. You can only do that by delivering for people who want real change, and if you can’t do that, then of course, there’s going to have to be change at the very top.’
The MP for Leeds East added: ‘The Prime Minister needs to change course immediately, otherwise, I’m pretty certain he’ll be gone next May as it stands.’
Education Select Committee chair Helen Hayes said that if the May elections were as bad as feared there would have to be ‘questions about the nature of the leadership’.
‘If those elections don’t go well then that will be the time to ask questions… Questions about the nature of the leadership and whether things can continue as they are,’ she said.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith denied Sir Keir is in the ‘last-chance saloon’.
Pressure is mounting on the PM’s all-powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, with several MPs calling for him to be sacked
She told Times Radio: ‘No, what Keir Starmer is doing today is he’s in Downing Street meeting with representatives from the nuclear industry to talk about the deal we are striking with the US this week to help us to get back control of our energy supply and build more nuclear power.’
Asked whether she was surprised at how quickly backbenchers had begun discussing whether Sir Keir should go, the peer said: ‘No what I was emphasising is that I think all of us elected relatively recently, or in my case not elected but representing the Government, on a programme to build back people’s confidence in this country, to build back people’s confidence that government can make a difference for them, need to focus on that.’
