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Keir Starmer believed Peter Mandelson when he made out his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “was next to nothing,” Steve Reed went on to say.
“You’re only as good as the information you receive,” the cabinet minister told LBC Radio. “Mandelson made out that relationship barely existed, that they hardly knew each other.
“There was a vetting process that included the security forces as well, and they flagged up no additional concerns… a liar is going to lie.”
Reed said the government wants to publish documents that show “what the prime minister saw when Peter Mandelson lied to him” before his appointment as ambassador to Washington “as quickly as possible”.
“We need to look at the documents that will show the extent to which Peter Mandelson was lying,” he said.
‘Of course’ Starmer and McSweeney are safe in their jobs, says Reed
The prime minister and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney are safe in their jobs, Steve Reed insisted.
Asked whether Keir Starmer’s position is secure, the housing secretary told BBC Breakfast: “Of course it is.”
On Sky News, he was pressed on whether McSweeney is safe in his role, after being blamed by many Labour MPs for pushing for the appointment of his ally Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US in 2024.
Reed answered: “Yes, of course he is.”
Mandelson ‘conned everybody’ including Keir Starmer, says housing secretary
Hello and welcome to the UK politics blog.
After fierce criticism of in the Commons last night over the Peter Mandelson scandal, the prime minister’s housing secretary has been out defending Keir Starmer in the media this morning.
Steve Reed, a Starmer loyalist, insisted that Mandelson “conned everybody” over his ongoing relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He told Sky News:
The person at fault here is not the prime minister or his team.
It is Peter Mandelson who lied, manipulated and deceived everybody, including the media, actually, because he was on the media an awful lot as well. He conned everybody.
What matters is what you do when you find out what’s gone wrong. And the prime minister couldn’t have been more decisive. He sacked Peter Mandelson at 5am in the morning as US ambassador months ago.
It comes as Labour MPs warned last night that Starmer’s days are numbered. The government was left on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson’s appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.
MPs said the eventual release of the documents – which may be delayed by a police investigation into Mandelson – could trigger a leadership challenge. “We need all the poison to come out,” one MP said.
One former minister said: “We’ve had a lot of bad days recently, but this is the worst yet, I think,” while another MP warned: “Trust is finite. I’m personally not sure I could trust myself to back the prime minister in a confidence vote.”
“The most terminal mood is among the super-loyal,” an MP from the 2024 intake noted.
