Well, Peter Mandelson has been sacked. I’m not a chap noted for the clarity of his crystal ball, but I never thought this would end in anything other than a tempest of tears. He’s got form, Mandelson: an undeclared £373,000 loan, a resignation over a passport intervention, and a trip to a Russian oligarch in 2005. The question is: why the bloody hell was he made British Ambassador to the United States in the first place, especially when his chumminess with Epstein was already known?
Oh, Mandy!
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I don’t know. I seem to remember most of these things being raised when he was appointed. Hubris from Starmer.
I read that first as Hubes from Starmer. Thank goodness I was wrong.
I read that first as Pubes from Starmer
OnlyFans merch opportunity?
What on earth persuaded Keir Starmer to appointment the staunchly pro-Israel Mandelson in the first place?
I’ve always been a staunch Labour supporter but they really have proved pathetically disappointing in government this time. Their failure to see the reality of even the most obviously stupid ideas (like appointing Mandy in the first place) never fails does it? The ongoing dismal response in facing up to the (mostly) racists in Reform, the cowardly denial of addressing the current flagshagging going on all over the country, and the refusal to confront the truth regarding Israel means I may break a lifetime’s habit and vote elsewhere next time.
Does this beat the quacamole/mushy peas scandal?
Among the many things that leads me to despair about our political situation is the apparently extreme shallowness of the talent pool involved.
Ambassador to the US is surely one of the key diplomatic posts. Was Mandy, given his above-mentioned history, the best candidate? Was there really nobody more suitable and scandal-free?
Elsewhere, any heavyweight Tories or potential Conservative PMs continue to be noticeable by their invisibility. Despite having numerous open goals as Labour drifts aimlessly along, Kemi Badenoch has failed to score even a single point or say/do anything memorable or vote-winning.
I’m trying to ignore Reform as the thought of Farage running the country makes me nauseous, and I doubt the Greens and Lib Dems have any chance of being in real power.
Where are the visionaries? Where are the people who make you think “They’re the one who will turn things around. They have common-sense ideas and know how to fund them”?
Instead we’re stuck with people who thought “Peter Mandelson? Yes! He’s the man we need to represent us to the most powerful country in the world! What could go wrong?”
Well when he was appointed I thought he had good experience – in government and in the EU. Plus he’s got excellent political savvy and is the sort of character who may well be able to build a relationship with Trump. However, that his closet is rich with skeletons is hardly news so you’d have thought they’d have done a bit of deep due diligence before proceeding.
I’m a Lib Dem voter and going from 12 to 74 seats is going the right way. I’d rather have Labour than the Tories but this lot are a lot worse than I expected.
Where are the visionaries?
Mainly working at tech companies. For a good two decades now it’s been apparent that if you’re young and bright and want to actually change the world private enterprise offers you a better and more richly rewarded avenue to do so than politics.
In that same time period the job of politicians has become exponentially worse: they have less power than once they did, they face far greater scrutiny and, consequently, the public have ever diminishing respect for them.
I thought Badenoch enjoyed her best PMQs on Wednesday. All six of her questions were about Mandelson. Starmer was floundering, repeating the mantra “the correct process was followed” and was forced to declare full confidence in him. I’d say she “won” by a mile.
Starmer was apparently warned by the security services but didn’t listen.
Hard to know whose judgement is worse…
Mandy for his consistently appalling choice of friends…
Or Starmer for his clueless choices when filling key cabinet posts – he’s now
lost more ministers/junior ministers than the notoriously careless Johnson at the same stage of his Premiership.
Free Gear Keir’s rearranging of the deckchairs in last week’s Rayner reshuffle was equally badly botched.
Regardless of what one thinks of David “Mastermind” Lammy (or the appalling Vance for that matter), he was getting on well with the second most important figure UK’s historically important ally.
Now he’s been replaced by Ed Balls’ hopeless wife, Yvette Cooper and the whole
mating ritual will have to start again.
I wonder what persuaded Keir Starmer to appointment the staunchly pro-Israel Cooper to replace the staunchly pro-Israel Lammy?
I don’t know. I wonder what persuaded Keir Starmer to appoint Shabana Mahmood “a passionate and determined supporter of Palestinian rights” as she says on her website as Lord Chancellor and now Home Secretary. Perhaps he thought she and Yvette Cooper would be good at their jobs. And possibly sees them as individuals and not “wives”, when judging their merits.
He also thought the perennially sleazy Mandy would be good at his job.
Here are seven other key appointees who were also found wanting
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/08/labour-mps-left-keir-starmer-government-since-election
It is disingenuous to suggest Foxcroft and Dodds were found wanting. They resigned on principle with no wrongdoing.
Perhaps he thought someone of Mahmood’s calibre would be ideally suited to home affairs. And perhaps she is. But can we imagine him appointing a pro-Palestine politician as Foreign Secretary? Or to a US ambassadorship? He’s made his support for Israel very clear.
Well he certainly supports Israel’s right to exist, to defend itself and to rescue the hostages. But he also has condemned many of Israel’s actions in Gaza (later than he could have done, it’s true) and he has said that the UK will recognise Palestine if Israel doesn’t agree to a ceasefire and commit to a two state solution. So not exactly unequivocal support….
I’d say his very late and completely ineffectual criticism of the Netanyahu government’s actions is belied by his bewildering lack of any concrete action so far. No sanctions? No boycotts? When an ally is committing war crimes on a massive scale?
He’s rightly called for the release of the Israeli hostages, but as far as I know never publicly called for the release of the hundreds of Palestinians, including children, held in Israeli prisons without charge or trial.
If Israel is indeed committing genocide then one has to question at what point will his equivocal support be withdrawn?
I think we’ve gone past the point where it can be said “IF Israel is committing a genocide”.
Yes. Now a UN commission has declared it a genocide, I wonder will Starmer take any meaningful stand against Israel, like he should have done many months ago? It’s so utterly shocking that Israel can do this and so little is done to stop them. The world’s eyes have certainly been opened, not just with respect to what Israel is capable of but also how powerful its influence over foreign governments is.
It seems that he has a line of defence re Epstein that his motivations can’t have been sexual because he is gay. This doesn’t matter. He was best pals with a convicted paedophile and says that he was taken in by Epstein’s charm and charisma.
Who is this person with a keen political instinct and extraordinary intellect? It certainly ain’t Mandy. His book will be called “Full Disclosure” and will be full of stories where needless to say, he had the last laugh. Just another dumb, vain failed politician who had his head turned by trinkets.
Maybe he saw it as networking given the number of other high rollers he would have met. Bad call though.
Read this on the BBC website:
A longtime friend of the peer told me: “Peter has weaknesses. He likes the high life. A lifestyle he can’t afford.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd1egrlj0mo
Not sure how being gay means his motivations wouldn’t be sexual.
Remember Mandy this way.
There has been suggestion that the appointment happened because as an Epstein confidant, he knew about as much information as might make Trump uncomfortable. A mild form of Kompromat
Well that backfired, didn’t it?
I think it’s more likely that as a man who seems to have no ideas of his own on how to run a government Starmer decided to model himself as a Blair tribute act, down to recruiting some of the old band members.
That’s a good call.
I’d say Mandy was made ambassador to the US because Starmer wanted someone who would have no qualms in brown nosing to Trump. But it’s come unstuck because Mandy is blinded by the chance to hang out with the ultra-rich, even when it’s a toxic dirtbag like Epstein.
I can’t help thinking the due vigilence wasn’t done very well.
I read some of the emails he sent to Epstein. Staggering!
I see McSweeny is being blamed for pushing for Mandy’s appointment, then resisting his exit. Bring back Sue Gray. It’s all gone to shit since she was ousted.
I completely agree. McSweeny decided his first priority after winning the election was to go to war with SG. Exit the only grown up with any experirience of getting things done. He needs to go.
And now another one’s gone – Steve Overdon who felt he was becoming a distraction because of some nasty emails about Diane Abbott
Since Ovendon was Starmer’s Director of Strategy, this latest exfoliation may actually prove to be a. blessing in disguise
His wrongdoing was 8 years ago. Why leak it now? Raynor is out, Burnham isn’t yet in. That leaves Streeting/Cooper with a clear run if Starmer goes soon. Are they to the right of the party or the left, I wonder.
Anyone with a kind word for Emily Thornberry? Sidelined by Starmer as he feared her gravitas and wisdom.
Sadly won’t fly with the St. George’s Cross crowd
Do any of the potential candidates show signs of genuinely wanting Israel’s killing to stop?
Emily could barely gather a handful of votes to stand for deputy. I like her. The PLP doesnt
I’m amazed by how many comebacks this man has made. We likely haven’t seen the last of him. I remember being vox-popped by a news crew in Hartlepool town centre (my home town, where he was our MP) after the undeclared loan debacle 25 years ago.
Starmer does not like to make it easy for his supporters.