The Prime Minister is “clearly telling porkies” about the circumstances surrounding his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, biographer Tom Bower has claimed.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Bower declared that he “doesn’t believe for a moment” that Sir Keir Starmer was unaware of the disgraced Peer’s relations with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Pressure continues to mount on Sir Keir’s leadership after police raided Mr Mandelson’s homes in Camden and Wiltshire over the weekend.
Apologising for the scandal, the Prime Minister told the nation on Friday: “I am sorry. I am 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.”
Asked about the Prime Minister’s defence of his position, he told host Camilla Tominey Show: “Well, I don’t believe it for a moment. I mean, he’s clearly telling porkies.
“There’s a man who, ever since he’s become Prime Minister constantly repeated that he was the DPP, the master of all the facts, of all the detail, the man who knew everything or didn’t know anything because it wasn’t pushed in front of him.”
He argued: “Well, all the facts of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein were pushed in front of Keir Starmer at the time and now he’s running from the hills, pretending he didn’t know. It’s not true at all.
“I don’t believe a word he’s saying and I think it’s only a matter of time before he goes.”
Tom Bower has torn into Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal
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PA / GB NEWS
Predicting that the upcoming Manchester by-election will “seal his fate” as Britain’s leader, Mr Bower said: “He’s heading to a rather difficult position, because if Mandelson is pushed too far, he will detail how he told Keir Starmer, all his relationship with Keir Starmer.
“So he’s facing a pretty sticky moment, of course. The by-election in Manchester and the elections in May will seal his fate.”
Discussing the controversy surrounding ex-Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Mr Bower said: “Well, I’m sure he is unstable. Has been unstable for many years. But it’s not just Andrew’s instability, it’s the monarch.
“King Charles, unfortunately, has put himself and his finds himself in a very, very vulnerable position.
Sir Keir apologised to Epstein’s victims on Thursday | PA
“And as the stories mount of Andrew’s misuse of Buckingham Palace in the most vulgar ways, in the most appalling manner, and the financial relationship with Epstein and everything else, I do think that King Charles is faced with insoluble problems of how to cope with his brother.”
Asked by Camilla if he believes the King has cauterised the situation, he said: “No, I don’t unfortunately. I wish it was so, but I think he acted too late. I think that he has gone on too long.
“If only he’d got rid of him out of Royal Lodge and stripped him of his titles a year ago, we’d now be in a much better position, but it all gives the impression that the king was forced into these actions, these recriminations against Andrew, rather than took the initiative.
“He should have, of course, been doing it a lot earlier, and now he finds himself in a very difficult position.”
Mr Bower told GB News that it is ‘only a matter of time’ before Sir Keir goes
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GB NEWS
Both Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Mr Mandelson is now facing a police investigation into whether he committed misconduct in public office after the Epstein files appeared to show he leaked highly sensitive Government information to the disgraced financier during the height of the financial crash in 2008.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister at the time, says he “greatly regrets” appointing Mr Mandelson as Business Secretary.
While insisting Sir Keir is “a man of integrity” who “wants to do the right things”, Mr Brown suggested he had acted too slowly in the matter.