Sir Keir Starmer has been slapped down for his “failure of judgement” by a top Tory after it was revealed Peter Mandelson was gifted an eye-watering payout at the expense of the British taxpayers.
The ex-UK ambassador to the US took home £77,000 after he initially vied for a staggering £550,000 during negotiations with Whitehall.
The Prime Minister fired Lord Mandelson back in September after “new information” came to light surrounding the New Labour titan and his links with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Government was later forced into releasing the 147-page-long dossier on his vetting process after the Tories laid a humble address before the House of Commons.
As a result, on Wednesday, the first batch of the hundreds of papers was publicly released, revealing Sir Keir was warned of a “reputational risk” posed by appointing the ex-Cabinet Minister to the high-flying role.
Previously, the Prime Minister vowed he “never would have appointed Peter Mandelson if [he] knew then what [he knows] now”.
Mr Vickers raged against the bombshell documents on GB News and insisted the dossier proves Sir Keir had a “failure of judgement”.
He said: “He’s very clear from all what we’ve seen now with these documents that have been released that he did know then what he knows now, what we all know, and all the reasons that this man should never have been appointed.
Matt Vickers laid into Labour over the first batch of Mandelson files
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GB NEWS
“He appointed Mandelson to the most prestigious diplomatic post that this country has to offer, even though he knew about his links to one of the most vile, disgusting paedophiles ever to walk the earth.
“The guy was staying at his house whilst he was in prison. Utter, utter failure judgement on behalf of the Prime Minister. And it’s there for everybody to see.
“And he still gave him £75,000 of taxpayers’ money as a golden handshake, as a goodbye. Absolutely disgusting. Completely unacceptable.”
He further branded the deal a “case of jobs for the boys”, reiterating: “There are no excuses for what Starmer did. Utter failure of judgement.”
LATEST ON THE PETER MANDELSON FILES:
Lord Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
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PA
While arguments have been put forward that Lord Mandelson’s appointment was accelerated due to his extensive experience in Government and years of media masterminding, making the peer an impressive candidate to negotiate with Donald Trump, Mr Vickers remained unconvinced.
Instead, he argued that it was “an embarrassment to this country that we send someone like him to represent us in the United States” at all.
Yesterday, delivering a statement in the Commons, the Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary attempted to defend the hefty sum paid to the ex-Cabinet Minister after he was swiftly sacked in September.
But, this morning, on GB News, Cabinet Minister and Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds said the New Labour architect should donate his sum to a charity that offers support to victims.
He said: “I share the moral outrage that I’m sure the outrage that all your viewers will have felt when they learnt about that.
Adding he believed Lord Mandelson “shouldn’t have the money”, he said: “He should, frankly, give that money away, possibly to a charity that supports victims. That would be the honourable and decent thing to do.”
A second – and final – batch of documents will be released after the Metropolitan Police conclude their investigation into Lord Mandelson.
The peer was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegedly leaking sensitive Government information.
He has denied any wrongdoing.