I have been closely involved in the scrutiny of the Prime Minister Kier Starmer and his advisers regarding the appointment of Peter Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
It was thanks to close questioning by the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, in September that the Prime Minister felt bound to sack Mandelson.
Mandelson, it had been revealed had maintained an unhealthy relationship with the convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
This raised serious questions about what the Prime Minister had known and when – and who had advised him.
Despite heavy pressure from the Opposition, the Government subsequently refused to tell the House of Commons what advice the Prime Minister had been given.
There the matter rested until the US Justice department released a huge number of documents relating to Epstein’s past.
These suggested that Mandelson may have behaved very inappropriately whilst a minister in the last Labour government and again reignited debate about his business connections with Epstein.
Earlier in February, Kemi Badenoch asked the Prime Minister directly whether the official briefing he had been given on Mandelson had mentioned that he had maintained his relationship with Epstein and continued to take his hospitality even after Epstein had been convicted of his terrible crimes.
To audible gasps in the Chamber, the Prime Minister said that it had.
I then led on a six-hour debate to force the Government to release all documentation surrounding Mandelson’s appointment.
During that debate it was very striking that no Labour MPs stood up to defend the Prime Minister.
At the end of it, the Opposition won and the Government had to concede to hand all relevant information over to the House of Commons.
Since then, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff and his director of Communications have resigned.
By the time you read this, who knows what else will have happened.
- Alex Burghart is the Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar (alexburghart.org.uk).
