Labour Backbenchers Publicly Condemn PM Over Mandelson

A growing list of Labour backbenchers are speaking out against Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal – while some are turning on each other.

The prime minister apologised for believing the ex-Labour peer’s “lies” over his relationship with dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday in an attempt to win back public favour.

But scrutiny over his decision to appoint Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington continues to grow, especially as their friendship was public knowledge even before Starmer gave him the plum job.

Labour MPs began the week by privately slamming the prime minister but now – after Starmer still insisted he had no reason to believe Mandelson had misled him over his Epstein ties until US lawmakers released new files on the convicted sex offender – a growing number of those on the left of the party are going on the record with their criticisms.

Paula Barker told the BBC she was “deeply ashamed” of the government’s initial attempts to block the release of documents surrounding Mandelson’s appointment.

However, she said “there’s nobody who I would be prepared to back at this stage” to replace him.

Simon Opher also told the New Statesman that Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney – a close ally to Mandelson – “needs to go”, blaming the “poor decision-making of those around the prime minister” for the current crisis.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy told ITV News that appointing Mandelson was an “unforgivable betrayed of our stance on violence against women and girls”.

Others, like Neil Duncan-Jordan, went further, calling for the “Number 10 operation in its entirety” to change.

Similarly, Kim Johnson said: “If this is their idea of leadership, No.10 needs gutting from top to bottom.”

Jo White, leader of Labour’s Red Wall group, said on X: “The only way through this is an ethical reset at the heart of government. ”

And former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell warned: “This could bring this government down.

“It could certainly bring Keir Starmer down and this whole team around him, that’s the seriousness of it.”

Rachael Maskell, a known Labour rebel, said on Thursday: “We need to now move forward as a party to ensure that we can gain that support back.

“I don’t believe we can with the PM in place – it is inevitable that the PM is going to have to step down.”

But Loyalist MP Luke Akehurst played down the impact of these statements, saying: “I’m not sure Morgan McSweeney should lose much sleep over this small collection of my PLP colleagues, all policy rebels on various issues, calling for his departure.

“The same names repeatedly take the opportunity to share their hot takes with the media.”

This sparked further disquiet within the party as fellow MP and government critic Karl Turner hit back.

Replying on X, he said: “I don’t think McSweeney will give a monkeys, Luke. But our PM should. And so should you. We aren’t some sort of fast food franchise. We are the Labour Party.

“Getting clever like this about those of us that have got the bottle to speak says more about you than it does about me.”

Meanwhile, a Labour source was exasperated to see the chaos erupting within the party, telling HuffPost UK: “Why are they publicly fighting? What’s wrong with them all?”