Keir Starmer survived a week from hell as the Peter Mandelson fallout continued to chip away at the Government, and the prospect of Morgan McSweeney giving evidence won’t make for a restful weekend
Keir Starmer could be forgiven for thinking that things were looking up.
His calm handling of the Iran war stood in stark contrast to the trigger-happy gung-ho of Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, and in line with the public mood. There were quiet hopes in Labour circles that his ‘Love Actually’ stand against Donald Trump might help avoid complete disaster at the polls in May’s local elections.
But the scandal over Peter Mandelson’s appointment has reared its ugly head once again. Despite being sacked as Britain’s ‘Trump whisperer’ more than seven months ago, the decision to send the so-called Prince of Darkness to Washington continues to haunt Mr Starmer.
Explosive revelations that Lord Mandelson failed security vetting triggered in a week from hell for the Prime Minister. And there’s worse to come as Mr Starmer battles to steady the ship ahead of critical local elections on May 7.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer hits back at Trump after he orders review of Britain’s claim to Falkland IslandsREAD MORE: Labour policing chief makes knife crime vow as data shows cases FALLING
On Tuesday a mild-mannered Whitehall mandarin delivered a series of blows that left Labour MPs with their heads in their hands. Recently sacked Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins claimed that No10 were “dismissive” of the vetting procedure for Lord Mandelson – and some thought there was no need to check him at all.
Sir Olly also didn’t dismiss claims that the PM’s ex-chief-of-staff, Morgan McSweeney, had rung the department ordering officials to “just f***ing approve” Mandelson. Mr McSweeney has denied this since the hearing.
But perhaps the heaviest blow came when the ex-department boss – who was both hired and fired by Mr Starmer – alleged No10 had asked him to find a plum job for aide Matthew Doyle. Doyle, now Lord Doyle, was the PM’s spin doctor, but had the whip withdrawn after it emerged he’d helped campaign for a convicted paedophile.
The PM fought his way through PMQs on Wednesday as opposition politicians called for him to quit. “Whatever she says, whatever noise they make, nothing is going to distract me from delivering for our country,” he retorted to Kemi Badenoch. How much the public is listening to “the noise” will become clear on May 8 after the all-important local elections.
Things could be about to get even worse, with Mr McSweeney and Sir Olly’s Foreign Office predecessor, Sir Philip Barton, due to give evidence on the vetting saga next week. There are even rumblings that Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle could allow MPs a vote on whether to refer the PM to the Commons Privileges Committee on whether he misled Parliament.
There’s plenty to be nervous about in the corridors of No10, and for Labour MPs bracing for a grim set of local elections while the Mandelson row dominates the news agenda.
The PM’s decision to sack Sir Olly for failing to tell him that security officials had advised against handing Lord Mandelson clearance has triggered fresh questions about his judgement. Cabinet allies Pat McFadden and Ed Miliband appeared to publicly distance themselves from the move, in a sign of trouble ahead.
Labour MPs are darkly muttering, with wild theories about plots to topple the PM after the May elections flying around. But the hard facts remain. MPs are not agreed on who would replace him and the most-touted candidates – Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham, and Wes Streeting – all have significant obstacles to overcome to be in a position to challenge.
A leadership contest – especially in the middle of the Iran war – risks making Labour look like its obsessed with internal wrangling, and has grim echoes of the Tory chaos they promised to avoid.
But the mood is grim. A Labour backbencher elected in 2024 told The Mirror: “I don’t think Keir is dishonest, but he gave the boys club too much leeway.
“Everyone I spoke to says they’re appalled over Doyle allegation, it just backs up the jobs for the boys impression the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) has had for a long time. Knocking on doors is going to be miserable over the next few weeks, all the good stuff we’ve done is just getting lost in the rot.”
Another, asked what the mood was like, simply replied: “Terrible. But the bar is already v low.”
One Labour MP claimed this week hadn’t changed things for the PM, and backed him to stick around due to a lack of challengers. They said: “Everyone else has bottled it. Wes had three chances and did nothing, and that’s the general feeling, if the cabinet wanted to get rid of the PM, they would, but they haven’t. If this was the Tory party, they’d have got rid of him in November.”
Another urged the PM to be bolder, calling for him to “go for it”. They said: “He’s got nothing to lose. Why not go for it now, really go for it with some bold policy, and at least go out swinging, rather than whatever this is”.