‘Weirdly rushed’ is a verdict that ought to haunt Starmer

This indictment from a close aide cuts to the heart of all that is wrong with this administration. It seems the PM is not so very different from Truss and Johnson, says Chris Blackhurst

- 

Amid the welter of material so far released by the government concerning Peter Mandelson becoming ambassador to Washington, one phrase leaps out. It came from Jonathan Powell, Keir Starmer’s national security adviser (and adviser to Tony Blair for his entire time in No 10), who said he thought Mandelson’s appointment had been “weirdly rushed”.

In the files, the prime minister’s lawyer, Mike Ostheimer, following a call with Powell, wrote that the adviser had raised concerns “about the individual and reputation” to the then chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.

There are references to Mandelson subsequently seeking a payout of £547,000 after he was sacked over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein - and, in the end, making do with £75,000. Much is being made of this, with calls for Mandelson to donate the money to charity. But it’s Powell’s remark that is vastly more significant.

For Powell - a veteran of Whitehall at the highest level, and someone schooled in the art of judicious understatement – to describe the peer’s anointment as ambassador to the most powerful nation on earth (and one half of the “special relationship”) as he has, goes to the heart of what is wrong with the Starmer administration.

From the moment Starmer popped up as a Labour leadership contender, to his election as leader and PM, we have been encouraged to view him as a cautious, cerebral lawyer. He was a trained human rights advocate, given to digging deeply, relying on detail, scrutinising forensically.