Chaos continues to follow the prime minister, as damning emails between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein were made public, forcing Keir Starmer to sack the UK ambassador to the US just days before Trump’s scheduled state visit. Details of the emails were reportedly given to Downing Street on Tuesday, but Starmer defended Mandelson in the House of Commons on Wednesday, apparently not knowing about the contents of the emails until Wednesday evening. On Sky News this morning, Business Secretary Peter Kyle told Trevor Phillips that Starmer had taken ‘decisive action’ hours after coming across the emails. Phillips asked Kyle how it was possible that the vetting process had not brought these emails to light. Kyle claimed that the government knew of Mandelson’s and Epstein’s ‘strong relationship’, but had only had access to the information that was ‘in reach’. He said Mandelson’s ‘singular talent’ had led Starmer to appoint him to the important role, despite the information that was already publicly available.
Laura Trott: ‘On the basis of the information that we have… the prime minister has lied’
In a post on X, Kemi Badenoch has accused Keir Starmer of lying about when he knew about the Peter Mandelson emails, saying, ‘If No 10 had those emails for 48 hours before acting, it means he lied at PMQs and ministers lied again about new additional information. These are yet more errors of judgment.’ Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott backed up the Conservative leader’s position on GB News, but refused to tell Camilla Tominey that the prime minister should resign. Tominey argued that misleading parliament is a resignation offence, and asked why Trott isn’t calling for him to do so. Trott said that the next step in the process was to get transparency on all the information regarding Peter Mandelson. Tominey accused Trott and Badenoch of ‘being cowardly about this’. Trott eventually agreed that if it was proven to be the case that Starmer lied to parliament, he should resign.
Peter Kyle: ‘Free speech… is alive and well’
A Tommy Robinson-organised ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally on Saturday drew over 110,000 people to central London. After a week in which the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University, Elon Musk appeared via video link to tell marchers: ‘violence is coming… you either fight back or you die’, as well as calling for the dissolution of parliament and saying that ‘the left are the party of murder’. Trevor Phillips asked Business Secretary Peter Kyle if the rally disturbed him. Kyle said the event showed that ‘free speech, free association’ is alive and well in this country, but he was disturbed by the violence of a minority of marchers against the police. Phillips asked if the scale of the march was a sign that ‘something needs to be addressed’. Kyle accepted that people were there for ‘lots of different reasons’, but noted that the national flag ‘belongs to all of us’, and represents values like free speech, which were on display.
Peter Kyle: ‘This government is delivering, with Keir’s leadership’
With missteps occurring at a monotonously regular pace, figures in opposition and within the Labour Party have begun to question the prime minister’s leadership. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg showed Peter Kyle messages from viewers who communicate that ‘public trust is eroding fast’, and noted that the government is breaking its promise that the ‘chaos would stop’. Kyle said he was ‘exasperated’ that some people aren’t meeting ‘the standards that Keir Starmer has set’, but claimed that the government is delivering. He said the UK has the ‘best deal’ of anyone with the US, NHS waiting lists are going down, and the government is about to announce new investments into the UK, including £1.2bn from American banks. Kuenssberg pointed out that the US deal was supposed to remove steel tariffs, but they are still there. Kyle said there are ‘aspects of the deal’ that are still being negotiated, and there will be an announcement ‘as soon as possible’.
Family of Virginia Giuffre say Peter Mandelson appointment shows ‘how deep the corruption is’
In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Sky and Amanda Roberts spoke about their sister Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein who campaigned for justice, and who committed suicide in April of this year. Kuenssberg asked them what they thought about the appointment of Peter Mandelson. Sky Roberts commended the government for taking action to remove Mandelson, but his sister Amanda asked why the public has to ‘pull out the skeletons for people to be held accountable’. She argued that there are a lot of people in government and financial institutions who are holding their positions despite their association with Epstein. Roberts suggested that anyone in the Epstein birthday book, ‘including President Trump, should be completely investigated’, and held accountable if they are found guilty of wrongdoing.
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