Mandelson scandal is sickening, but it’s the economy that’s fatal for Starmer
Despicable Peter Mandelson is deeply damaging for Keir Starmer, but it’s the economy that will collapse his government, says Alys Denby
Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘birthday book’ is a sickening document. It doesn’t just contain damning messages from Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, but a cartoon depicting the financier grooming children to give him lewd massages, images of animals copulating and limericks about the birthday boy being “up to no good whenever he could”. No one who contributed to this vile compendium could credibly have had any doubts about the kind of man it celebrated.
And Peter Mandelson didn’t just contribute, he wrote several fawning pages declaring his love for the paedophile, his “best pal”. To offer the bizarre excuse that he never noticed any sex crimes on his many visits to Epstein’s houses, which he described as “yum yum”, “because he’s gay” is insulting.
Yet this wasn’t enough to convince Keir Starmer that Mandelson should not continue living in a Lutyens mansion in Washington at the taxpayers’ expense. He told PMQs he had “full confidence” in the man. It was only subsequent revelations about the ambassador’s dealings with Epstein after his arrest for child prostitution that finally got him the sack.
What kind of mesmeric power must Mandelson exert over Labour Prime Ministers despite continually embarrassing them by disporting himself on yachts, consorting with rapists and literally being nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness”?
What kind of mesmeric power must Mandelson exert over Labour Prime Ministers despite continually embarrassing them by disporting himself on yachts, consorting with rapists and literally being nicknamed “The Prince of Darkness”? This party can never again claim it will “restore trust” in politics after such a despicable affair.
Yet perhaps even more portentous for Starmer than losing two big beasts in a week is losing three companies. Anglo American is relocating to Canada following its merger with Teck, Merck has pulled out of a planned £1bn drug research centre in London and Ineos has ceased all investment into the UK. This chaotic government has proved it is incapable of making the reforms necessary to reduce debt and boost growth, and businesses are noticing.
In the end it’s never really scandals – however lurid – that collapse a government. It’s always the economy.