A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse has savaged Keir Starmer over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
In a dramatic intervention, MPs heard a statement from US survivor Lisa Phillips, in which she said the PM had failed to listen to those who suffered at Epstein’s hands.
Ms Phillips, who was assaulted by Epstein at the age of 21 and then trafficked for years, challenged Sir Keir to agree a public inquiry into Epstein’s activities and those of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and others who ‘enabled or protected’ their crimes.
The former model said: ‘As a survivor, I struggle to understand how Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson when his association with Jeffrey Epstein had long been publicly known. For survivors, this raises serious questions about whether the lessons of the Epstein scandal have truly been learned.
‘I have repeatedly requested the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister but those requests have all been ignored. Must I now wait for the next Prime Minister to acknowledge me and my survivor sisters?’
MPs sat in silence as her statement was read out in the Commons by former victims minister Alex Davies-Jones.
Sir Keir issued a general apology to Epstein’s survivors in February this year, saying: ‘I am sorry, sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.
But Ms Phillips dismissed his words, saying directly to Sir Keir: ‘With respect, your apology means little without meaningful action.’
Struggle: Lisa Phillips said Keir Starmer had ignored her requests for a meeting
The PM appointed Lord Mandelson despite warnings about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein
She said ‘many’ of Epstein’s British victims had come forward to the police but had been ‘left without the answers and accountability they deserve’.
Ms Davies-Jones was one of a handful of ministers who quit the government last month to call on Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his resignation.
She said she had been left ‘deeply frustrated’ by disclosures in the Mandelson files showing ministers seeking to build relationships with tech billionaires like Elon Musk at the same time as she and others were being ‘ignored, sidelined or dismissed’ as they pushed for ‘stronger action on online harm’.
‘The role of government should not be to seek approval from the world’s most powerful technology companies,’ she said. ‘It should be to stand up for the people we are sent here to serve.
‘When people look at these disclosures they see a government more interested in cultivating relationships with the tech elites than listening to the warnings about the harms being experienced by women, girls and young people every single day.’
Ms Davies-Jones also hit out at Sir Keir and other senior ministers for using the disappearing messages function on their phones to automatically delete their messages with Lord Mandelson. The decision left huge gaps in the material published this week in response to parliament’s demands for all records relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
Ms Davies-Jones said: ‘The public are entitled to ask how confidence in transparency can be maintained when disappearing messages were being used at the highest levels of government.’
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, later offered to arrange a meeting with Ms Phillips, saying ministers were determined to remember the ‘harrowing’ suffering experienced by Epstein’s victims.
Downing Street confirmed that Sir Keir uses disappearing messages but refused to say how long he has used the function or why he decided to switch it on.
No 10 claimed that he had complied with Cabinet Office guidance stating that ministers using disappearing messages must ensure that it ‘does not impact on your record keeping or transparency responsibilities.’
