'Starmer is weak ...he gave his full backing to a man unfit for office'

IT won't come as a surprise to most people that Peter Mandelson’s time as Britain’s US ambassador has ended in a ball of flames.

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Sir Keir Starmer and his allies always knew the dangers of appointing him for the plum diplomatic job in Washington.

But they got the calculations badly wrong. The controversies ultimately outweighed the benefits. They always do.

In this case it was Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and the fact that it carried on after the billionaire was convicted.

His sacking has plunged Labour into a full-blown crisis. And Sir Keir is clinging on for dear life, weaker now than any other time in his time as party leader.

The Prime Minister dithered over Angela Rayner when it was plainly clear the former Housing Secretary had to go and he did the same over Mandelson. On both occasions he put party above country.

There are also still serious questions about what the Prime Minister knew about the whole unedifying saga and when. And it raises serious questions about Sir Keir’s personal and political judgement.

It was a risky decision by the Prime Minister, someone not known for taking political gambles, to appoint Lord Mandelson in the first place.

With a civil war brewing over replacing Rayner things are getting worse for Labour. Freebie scandals, bumper tax raids, targeting pensioners and a string of ministers losing their jobs have seen the party plummet in the polls. But the Rayner and Mandelson affairs leave the Prime Minister fighting for survival.