Starmer must put the country first and resign now

POLITICAL scandals come and go.

- By Priti Patel SHADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY

Peter Mandelson applauds speech by Keir Starmer at a Labour Party conference in London in 2023

But sometimes something happens that casts the darkest shadow over a governing political party that is so rotten it consumes the government itself all the way to the very top. The abhorrent Starmer-Mandelson-Epstein scandal is just that.The facts are well known. One year ago Keir Starmer appointed political fixer and friend of the Labour Party, Peter Mandelson, to the prestigious role of British Ambassador to the United States.

To not appoint a professional diplomat to Britain’s most illustrious diplomatic role was a highly unusual move. But Starmer got his Labour Party friend in post.

Within months, in September 2025, when Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted sex offender who preyed on minors came under intense scrutiny, Starmer stood by his man, saying he had “full confidence”. The very next day, Mandelson was sacked.

Following the US Department of Justice’s release of documents containing emails between Epstein and Mandelson, Starmer made a desperate attempt to save his own political skin by putting on his lawyerly acting skills to say he was the victim of Mandelson’s lies about his relationship with Epstein.

Mandelson’s links to Epstein were well documented and yet Starmer appointed him knowing full well the shameful friendship Mandelson had with the convicted sexual predator.

Despite this, Starmer spent the last week trying to deflect responsibility for this scandal on to others - this time blaming the vetting process led by Britain’s intelligence services.

On Friday, the Conservatives released an explosive dossier in the form of a mocked-up due-diligence report covering in detail publicly available information about Mandelson before his pal promoted him to the ambassador role.