The Times's Patrick Maguire has argued that this is possibly the greatest political scandal since the Profumo Affair. I'm not so sure. The Tories handing out Covid procurement contracts to their donors springs to mind. As does the wrecking campaign, subversion of democracy and undermining Labour's election efforts by the Mandelson-friendly Labour Together faction and their allies. But to be sure, allegedly leaking market sensitive information that financier pals could profit from while government was grappling with the meltdown of global capital circuits is right up there. And it is reasonable to suppose that Starmer knew nothing of this. To him, Mandelson was just a grandee that hung around the party, and whom his advisors and subordinates looked up to as The Master.
What he did know was that Mandelson was associated with Epstein, courted the global oligarchy, counted many a billionaire as paying clients and associates and, of course, had to resign in disgrace from government twice. With such a history behind him, any government with modest centre left ambitions - and Starmer's ambitions for his government are very modest - would surely steer clear. But this is the Labour Party and, of course, this is Britain. For Mandelson's meat puppet, the overrated Morgan McSweeney, what was scandalous about his mentor were ample qualifications for his putative suitability in the court of King Donald. They had a mutual friend in the late Epstein, he was totally on board with Britain being a lapdog state and saw eye-to-eye with the Trump White House on foreign policy. He was good at sucking up to the rich and powerful and, unbeknownst to Starmer and McSweeney, the Epstein files suggest Mandelson was the match for any of Trump's circle for corruption,. Minus the brash crudity. For McSweeney, elevating his mentor meant he would never be too busy to advise on what the Starmer government should be doing. And for Starmer, a man experienced with ensuring Labour never strayed far from the right and proper interests was in situ to secure the US relationship.
Starmer might not have had much interest in Mandelson until fairly recently. But from the inner party shenanigans and through McSweeney, we knew Mandelson was interested in him. When he took McSweeney's advice and appointed him ambassador, his story publicly became intertwined with Mandelson's. It becomes a question of Starmer's political judgement, which has been poor since the first day of this government. The Mandelson revelations should be the final word on the Prince of Darkness's career at the top of British politics. And, by right, it should call time on Starmer's stay in Number 10 too.
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I'll believe either of Starmer or McSweeney risking their control of the Labour Party - and the ire of the class interests which they have fought so long and dirty to gratify - when I see it. For surely it would risk their faction losing its all-important control, were they to fall upon the sharpest of their silverware now. We may be about to see Boris being given a run for his money in the dogged I'm-not-going-you-can't-make-me arena.
ReplyDeleteThe cheek of Labour's spokespeople is to claim, with straight faces and confident voices, that Starmer acted quickly to get Mandelson out of the Labour Party and to remove him from the Lords! It has to be pointed out to them by the reporters that he resigned from the party and from the Lords. Starmer has watched on, frozen in the headlights, awaiting instructions on what to do and wondering if he can go abroad again to discuss international relations - after all Johnson used to zip off to the Ukraine whenever his domestic position looked rocky.
ReplyDeleteIt seems, too, that Mandelson sees all the noise about his behaviour as over-reaction. Speaking to the rich and powerful, getting free holidays, access to their properties, support for your husband, loans that never need paid back, gifts, introductions and jobs are just the 'normal' ways in whiich you operate in that environment and glue it together for mutual benfit. Everyone he knows has done it, so why such a fuss. What's good fro Peter is good for UK PLC.
No doubt at PMQs we will see Parliament at its most sanctimonious, 'How could an honourable member, a Privvy Councillor, act in this way?' And you could look around the Chamber and pick out scores that are hoping there is no indepth probe of behaviour.
This is what grown up politics looks like. Too have acted otherwise would have been harder than hard left, student, protest politics. I wonder if Mandelson will now be using his contact book to start the process of further undermining Starmer . What information he must have about the faction he inspired. Bring it on.
Delete"To him, Mandelson was just a grandee that hung around the party, and whom his advisors and subordinates looked up to as The Master."
ReplyDeleteIf Starmer thought anything like that, he was very, very foolish. He never thought to ask McSweeney how well he knew Mandelson, for example?
Meanwhile, I see that Gordon Brown is getting some criticism for bringing Mandelson into his government in 2008. My recollection is that Brown initially tried to marginalise Mandelson, who then ran a whispering campaign against Brown who then brought in Mandelson and the whispering magically stopped. Most of the press at the time welcomed Mandelson being brought into Brown's government and praised Mandelson for stabilising the Brown administration. It's very odd that they are now pointing the finger at Gordon Brown.
I’m pretty sure Blair was part of this. He can’t help intervening in our politics, though he became quiet once Starmer was PM. I’m sure he’s been regularly briefed and offered “advice” to these utter clowns. It would be delicious if the consequences actually reached as far as him.
ReplyDeleteIt's getting to the stage now where we're just going to have to bulldoze Westminster. Totally unsalvageable system.
ReplyDelete«this is possibly the greatest political scandal since the Profumo Affair. I'm not so sure. The Tories handing out Covid procurement contracts to their donors springs to mind. As does the wrecking campaign, subversion of democracy and undermining Labour's election efforts»
ReplyDeleteThe greatest political scandal is indeed related to COVID-19 but it is not the procurement contracts but the sudden early switch from test-trace-isolate as recommended by the Chief Medical and Chief Science Advisors to half-baked country-wide lockdowns because trst-trace-isolate was too "collectivist". Such "collectivist" countries as Singapore, Korea-south, China-Taiwan, New Zealand had much lower impacts on health and the economy thanks to test-trace-isolate because their governments prioritized public health over ideological loyalty to thatcherism.
«any government with modest centre left ambitions - and Starmer's ambitions for his government are very modest»
The ambitions of Starmer are continuity of thatcherism to serve the interests of affluent "Middle England" property owners so I doubt that can be regarded as "centre-left".
AND he's gone!
ReplyDeleteBut for how long...?