Keir Starmer is facing fresh peril today as he struggles to quell Labour anger in the wake of Lord Mandelson’s arrest.
The PM is facing calls for ‘maximum accountability’ after the New Labour architect was led away from his London home by police. Questions have been asked about the unusual timing of the arrest, at 4.15pm.
The peer was released on bail after being quizzed into the early hours over allegations he leaked sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as business secretary.
But the escalation is threatening to undermine Sir Keir’s efforts to stabilise his premiership, after nearly being ousted in a coup a fortnight ago.
MPs have been incensed by his decision to make Lord Mandelson US ambassador despite knowing of his long-standing ties to Epstein. Just 167 days ago the PM voiced ‘full confidence’ in the peer, shortly before sacking him.
Shortly before the arrest Sir Keir made his first visit to Gorton & Denton, where Labour is desperately trying to hold on in a crucial by-election on Thursday.
Earlier, Sir Keir had used an email to his MPs to promise to ‘listen’ to them more and change the ‘culture’ in Downing Street. He has already signalled a lurch to the Left as he struggles to survive.
Labour backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy said last night that there had been ‘issues of poor judgment’ and it was damaging politics across the spectrum.
‘What we need to get to a point of now is trying to get to a point of maximum accountability,’ she told Channel 4 News.
‘There should be a wide-ranging investigation into all these things.
‘The major issue has been the damage of trust between us and the British public, and they need to feel that something’s being done about it.’
Lord Mandelson was led away by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Special Investigations Team – the unit dubbed the Yard’s ‘Celeb Squad’ – on suspicion of misconduct in public office yesterday afternoon.
Nine hours later at around 1.15am the 72-year-old was pictured as he was driven out of Wandsworth Police Station.
He left the station in a black car accompanied by three other people but shortly after arrived home in a London black cab. He remained silent and downcast as he walked into his house.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation.
‘He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and was taken to a London police station for interview.
‘This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.
‘We are not able to provide further information at this stage to prevent prejudicing the integrity of the investigation.’
The Government had yesterday pledged to release documents relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassadoe.
MPs were told that the first bundle would be published ‘very shortly in early March’. But Mandelson’s arrest has now cast doubt over that timeline.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said Scotland Yard had advised against releasing some exchanges between Downing Street and the Labour grandee for fear of prejudicing any potential prosecution.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Mandelson’s arrest is the defining moment of Keir Starmer’s premiership.
‘It wasn’t long ago the PM looked me in the eye at PMQs and said he had ‘full confidence’ in Mandelson.
‘Time to release the Mandelson files in full. We must know who knew what and when. No more delays.’
In his email to MPs, Sir Keir committed to hosting more ‘policy roundtables’ in No10 and said advice would be ‘taken seriously and acted upon’.
‘I recognise this is not simply about process, it is about culture,’ he added, according to the i newspaper.
