Kay Burley Says Keir Starmer Should Not Resign Over Mandelson

Kay Burley said Keir Starmer should not resign over the Peter Mandelson scandal, despite admitting to not being a supporter of the prime minister.

The government released its first tranche of documents related to the appointment of the ex-Labour peer as the UK’s ambassador to the US this week.

The files reveal Starmer was repeatedly warned about the “reputational risk” that came with hiring Mandelson, because of his friendship with the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Pressure has subsequently grown on the prime minister to resign. He has taken full responsibility over the appointment, and expressed his regret over hiring Mandelson.

Asked if Starmer should quit on BBC Question Time, Burley immediately said: “No, he shouldn’t.

“He’s a bit busy trying to keep us out of World War 3 at the moment.”

She was referring to the PM’s attempts to distance Britain from Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran.

Despite intense pressure from the States, Starmer has refused to let the US use British military bases to target Iran unless for “defensive” and “limited” strikes.

Burley said: “Yes it’s embarrassing for him, yes on balance he should have been more cautious and asked more questions.

“I can see why Mandelson would have been chosen, if not at random. He is a Trump whisperer, he’s very good at his job.

“But as it became more and more apparent that he was still involved with a wrong’un, then absolutely he was the wrong person for the job.”

She added: “I’m not a supporter of Starmer, I think he has done lots of things which have not been very supportive for the country, I think he flip-flops a lot, but I don’t think he should resign.”

Times columnist Fraser Nelson also told Question Time: “Getting rid of Keir Starmer right now would destabilise the country even more.

“I think we’ve had enough of this constant rotation of prime ministers and just once I would love the electorate the chance to make that choice.”

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Harriet Baldwin said he should quit, saying: “He himself has apologised but not really said anything more than that or taken full responsibility.

“The way people take full responsibility in our democracy is they resign.”

She also questioned the £75,000 severance pay Mandelson received, saying Starmer should not have used public money to avoid further embarrassment from the ex-ambassador.

Green Party MP Sian Berry called for Starmer to resign too.

She said: “He chose to overlook those victims, overlook that fact, freely chose Mandelson as the ambassador. To me, that is a very big moral failing.”