Downing Street 'knew about damning Mandelson emails' as Starmer defended sacked ambassador
The Foreign Office was allegedly sent the emails and passed them to Downing Street on Tuesday - before Sir Keir Starmer defended Mandelson at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
Sir Keir Starmer defended sacked US ambassador Lord Mandelson after Downing Street and the Foreign Office were shown damning emails between the diplomat and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, reports claim.
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The Foreign Office was allegedly sent the emails and passed them to Downing Street on Tuesday - before Sir Keir Starmer defended Mandelson at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister withdrew Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the US on Thursday after emails were published which showed the peer offering support to Epstein after his initial conviction for soliciting child prostitution in 2008.
The emails sent from Mandelson to Epstein saw the peer telling the paedophile that "I think the world of you" following the conviction.
This came after revelations that in 'birthday book' for Epstein, Mandelson wrote a message calling the disgraced financier "my very best pal".
The allegations, published in The Times, is likely to fuel criticism of Sir Keir's judgement in appointing Lord Mandelson, as well as that of his key aide Morgan McSweeney, an ally of the sacked ambassador who pushed for him to be offered the role.
The row over Mandelson could also rumble on further as he is understood to remain a government employee after refusing to resign - meaning that a damaging HR process could be needed to remove him entirely.
Whitehall sources told the Times the Government may be forced to prove that Lord Mandelson materially misled ministers and officials to avoid paying him a 'substantial' taxpayer-funded payout.
One Labour backbencher suggested the Mandelson scandal could be "terminal" for Downing Street Chief of Staff, Mr McSweeney, but could also prove a serious problem for the Prime Minister.
They said: "I think Morgan McSweeney runs the show, and Keir just enables it and makes very bad decisions. I’m not sure how long this can continue though."
Another also suggested that problems in Number 10 went beyond the chief of staff. They said: "Even a Morgan problem is ultimately a Keir problem."
Downing Street said on Friday that the Prime Minister still had confidence in Mr McSweeney’s judgement.
"Of course the Prime Minister has confidence in his top team," a No 10 spokesman said.
The sacking of Mandelson followed the resignation of Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner in what has been a chaotic return to Westminster following the summer recess.
Clive Lewis became the first Labour MP to openly question Sir Keir's future in the top job on Friday.
The MP for Norwich South said his fellow Labour MPs were feeling "concerned, slightly downtrodden, a little bit browbeaten" and that there was a "very dangerous atmosphere" in the parliamentary Labour party.
He told reporters: "You see a Labour Prime Minister who feels that he's lost control within the first year.
"This isn't navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me. It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country.
"We don't have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think increasingly, I'm sorry to say, just doesn't seem up to the job."
Mr Lewis said the Cabinet reshuffle that came after Ms Rayner's departure was "deeply unpopular" among many backbench MPs and that "the party feels very narrow in terms of the political outlook from the right of the party".
"I think we're feeling left out, I think we're feeling alienated, marginalised and that needs to change because it's a very, very dangerous atmosphere in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) at the moment," he said.
The chairwoman of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee is demanding answers from the Foreign Secretary on the vetting process.
Dame Emily Thornberry has asked what security concerns were raised during the process, if the Foreign Office felt they represented a "potential barrier" to Lord Mandelson’s appointment and whether any conditions were imposed on his remit as ambassador.
She asked whether the Foreign Office or Downing Street decided to dismiss any security concerns that were raised or change the vetting requirements for Lord Mandelson.
In a letter to Yvette Cooper, who took over as Foreign Secretary after the Cabinet reshuffle, Dame Emily wrote: "It has been suggested by a number of media outlets that security concerns were overlooked during the appointments process, and that such decisions may have been taken by actors outside of the Foreign Office, perhaps senior people in No 10."
She said the allegations were “potentially very serious” and that the House of Commons must receive a "thorough response to a number of important unanswered questions".