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Tories and SNP call for inquiry into how Mandelson came to be appointed ambassador given Epstein links
Opposition parties are calling for an inquiry into how Peter Mandelson came to be appointed ambassador to Washington in the light of the new Epstein revelations, and the peer’s resignation from the Labour party.
A Conservative party spokesperson said:
Lord Mandelson is competely disgraced. Yet Keir Starmer lacked the backbone to take action, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labour party instead of kicking him out.
Keir Starmer and his chief of staff [Morgan McSweeney] appointed Mandelson ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein, and then refused to act even as the mountain of evidence against him grew.
Given the prime minister’s appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, has written an open letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics adviser, asking for an investigation. In the letter Flynn says:
The current prime minister, Keir Starmer, appointed Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States of America, prior to that he was appointed to the House of Lords and to the cabinet by a previous Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown and prior to that he was a member of several British cabinets under Tony Blair.
Given the serious allegations that are still emerging regarding the extent of the relationship, political influence, and financial hold the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein had over Lord Mandelson – there is an urgent need for a full and swift investigation into Peter Mandelson’s conduct in public life and importantly – particularly in terms of your own remit – how and why he was ever appointed to high office by these Labour prime ministers.
Last month the SNP called for Mandelson to be stripped of his peerage over his Epstein links. It requires an act of parliament for someone to lose a peerage, and this has not happened since the first world war, when legislation was passed to remove peerages from a handful for Germans and Austrians who had peerages as a result of British heritage.
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Free breakfast clubs are to be rolled out to hundreds more primary schools, as the government urges headteachers to apply to the scheme, PA Media reports. PA says:
The Department for Education (DfE) said 300,000 more children will benefit from the programme in April, when more than 500 schools join.
It said children in schools already in the scheme are benefiting from healthy breakfasts and being in school earlier, with evidence showing improved attendance, attainment and behaviour.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Free breakfast clubs are revolutionising morning routines up and down the country, becoming an essential part of modern-day life for working families.
“From settling a child into the school day to helping parents get to work, free breakfast clubs are giving every child the best start in life – delivering on our plan for national renewal.
“I was raised by a single parent, so I know first-hand the struggles facing parents trying to make ends meet and how important it is to tackle outdated stigmas with practical support that people can feel every day.”
More than half of 2024 Labour voters in Wales won't vote for party in Senedd elections, poll suggests
Bethan McKernan has written a good feature for the Guardian today on the plight of Labour in Wales, and how Plaid Cymru is leading the fight against Reform UK.
More in Common has released some new polling on voter opinion in Wales which confirms that it is looking bleak for Labour ahead of the Senedd elections in May. Only 38% of people who voted Labour at the general election in 2024 say they would vote the party now, the poll says.
More in Common also says that, among people who voted Labour two years ago but would not back the party now, almost half of them say they would never vote for the party again (25%) or that they would not vote for it at least for another 10 years (20%).
Olivia Bailey, an education minister, was giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning. Asked if she agreed that Peter Mandelson should have his peerage removed, she said “the reality of the removal of a peerage is a complicated one”. But she said Mandelson was not currently attending the House of Lords, and “I do understand that he does not intend to return.”
Lib Dems join SNP in calling for Mandelson to be stripped of peerage
The Liberal Democrats have joined the SNP (see 10.06am) in saying that Peter Mandelson should be deprived of his peerage.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said:
It’s time now for the government to take immediate action by bringing forward legislation to strip Peter Mandelson of his peerage. It is the very least they can do for the victims and survivors of his friend Jeffrey Epstein.
If Mandelson has any shame left he will retire from the House of Lords today while this process gets under way.
Starmer confirms he wants to see Angela Rayner back in government 'at right point', saying she is 'fantastic asset'
Keir Starmer has confirmed that he wants to see Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, back in government.
In an interview with Times Radio broadcast this morning, Starmer described her as a “fantastic asset for the Labour party”.
Rayner resigned in September last year after it emerged that she had inadvertently paid too little stamp duty when she bought a flat in Hove.
Starmer said that, at the time, he made it clear that he would like to see her back, and he confirmed that in his interview. He said:
I would like to have Angela back at the right point. I’ve always been clear she has a future role to play …
She played a huge part in the achievement that we got at the last election, getting elected. We’ve just passed the Employment Rights Act, which has got her fingerprints all over it.
Rayner would be “a big voice in the future, as well as the past”, he said.
Tories and SNP call for inquiry into how Mandelson came to be appointed ambassador given Epstein links
Opposition parties are calling for an inquiry into how Peter Mandelson came to be appointed ambassador to Washington in the light of the new Epstein revelations, and the peer’s resignation from the Labour party.
A Conservative party spokesperson said:
Lord Mandelson is competely disgraced. Yet Keir Starmer lacked the backbone to take action, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labour party instead of kicking him out.
Keir Starmer and his chief of staff [Morgan McSweeney] appointed Mandelson ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein, and then refused to act even as the mountain of evidence against him grew.
Given the prime minister’s appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, has written an open letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics adviser, asking for an investigation. In the letter Flynn says:
The current prime minister, Keir Starmer, appointed Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States of America, prior to that he was appointed to the House of Lords and to the cabinet by a previous Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown and prior to that he was a member of several British cabinets under Tony Blair.
Given the serious allegations that are still emerging regarding the extent of the relationship, political influence, and financial hold the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein had over Lord Mandelson – there is an urgent need for a full and swift investigation into Peter Mandelson’s conduct in public life and importantly – particularly in terms of your own remit – how and why he was ever appointed to high office by these Labour prime ministers.
Last month the SNP called for Mandelson to be stripped of his peerage over his Epstein links. It requires an act of parliament for someone to lose a peerage, and this has not happened since the first world war, when legislation was passed to remove peerages from a handful for Germans and Austrians who had peerages as a result of British heritage.
Mandelson quits Labour as Epstein documents reveal he urged bank to ‘threaten’ Labour chancellor over banker tax
Good morning. Peter Mandelson’s career in politics appears to be over. To be fair, journalists have written this at least four times before. But this time it may actually turn out to be true.
It was my former Guardian colleague David Hencke who first wrote a story in 1998 about a career-ending Mandelson scandal. It involved an undisclosed loan from a millionaire, and Mandelson resigned as trade secretary. Three years later Mandelson was back in cabinet, as Northern Ireland secretary, when he had to resign again, over another story involving a favour and a rich person (this time a billionaire – Mandelson’s appetite for scandal has been upwardly mobile). After a stint as a European commissioner, he returned to cabinet and it was assumed that Labour’s defeat in the 2010 general election would finish his politcal career. “All of us believe in dignity in retirement,” said Ed Miliband, the incoming Labour leader, explaining why he would not be giving Mandelson a job.
But Keir Starmer did give Mandelson a job – a dream one, ambassador to the US. In September Mandelson was sacked over his past links with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sex offender. And last night, as further revelations about his dealing with Epstein came to light, Mandelson resigned from the Labour party.
Here is our overnight story, by Alexandra Topping and Pippa Crerar.
For Mandelson, dignity in retirement has clearly not been achieved; the story is illustrated with a picture, from the Epstein files, showing the peer in his underpants.
As Mandelson explained in his statement last night, he says is quitting the party primarily because of the embarassment caused by documents in the files suggesting Epstein paid him $75,000. Mandelson believes this claim this false, and that the documentation is not accurate.
But he has not contested another revelation that has emerged in the Epstein files, showing that in 2009 he advised Epstein on how JPMorgan, the investment bank, should lobby his cabinet colleague Alistair Darling, the then chancellor, against a proposed tax on bankers’ bonsuses.
As Jim Pickard reports in his story for the Financial Times, Epstein emailed Mandelson to ask if the new tax might only apply to the cash portion of bonuses. Pickard says:
Mandelson responded within minutes: “Trying hard to amend as I explained to Jes last night. Treasury digging in but I am on case.” Epstein replied with: “let me know before jes please”, in an apparent reference to Jes Staley, then a senior banker at JPMorgan.
Two days later on December 17, Epstein emailed Mandelson asking whether Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, should “call darling one more time?”
Mandelson replied, saying: “Yes and mildly threaten.”
Mandelson told the Financial Times:
Every UK and international bank was making the same argument about the impact on UK financial services. My conversations in government at the time reflected the views of the sector as a whole, not a single individual.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch and Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, are on a visit in London.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Morning: Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister, holds a meeting with his EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič. Šefčovič also has a meeting with Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Peter Kyle, the business secretary.
2.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Keir Starmer is expected to make a statement to MPs about his trip to China.
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