Sir Ed Davey has torn into Sir Keir Starmer’s “catastrophic failure of judgement” in appointing Lord Peter Mandelson, following his arrest.
Speaking to GB News, the leader of the Liberal Democrats hit out at the Prime Minister and declared there are “huge questions” surrounding Sir Keir’s decision to appoint him.
Sir Ed said: “There are absolutely questions about the Prime Minister’s judgment.
“I was surprised when he was appointed in the first place, given his track record of having to resign or be sacked from a number of officers.
“But the fact that the Prime Minister has admitted that he knew that Mandelson continued his relationship with Epstein even after Epstein had been convicted, become a convicted paedophile, raises huge questions about the Prime Minister’s judgement.”
Lord Mandelson has been released on bail by the Metropolitan Police following his arrest on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
In a statement, the force confirmed: “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, February 23 and was taken to a London police station for interview.
Sir Ed Davey has torn into Keir Starmer’s ‘catastrophic failure’ in appointing Peter Mandelson
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GB NEWS
“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 Lib Dems leader also took aim at the appointment of the Prime Minister’s ex-Communications Chief Lord Matthew Doyle, stating: “And then you add to all this his decision to appoint Matthew Doyle, Lord Doyle, to the House of Lords.
“I think it’s a catastrophic failure of judgment by the Prime Minister.”
Sir Ed was then quizzed by host Alex Armstrong on the latest polling and remarks from critics claiming he has “Farage derangement syndrome”.
In complete disagreement with the claims, Sir Ed told GB News: “Well, I don’t want Donald Trump’s America to become Farage’s Britain. Donald Trump is a disaster for his country economically, and he’s damaging our country too.
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“And if you look at the awful things that are happening in America, Nigel Farage wants to repeat them here.
“So, for example, you look at what’s happening in Minnesota – there are volunteer midwives helping women have their babies at home rather than having to go to hospital because these Ice agents, which Nigel Farage wants here, are going into hospitals because it’s the easiest way for them to decide who they don’t like and then penalise.
“I think that sort of barbarity is not something that is true to British values, and so we will oppose that.”
Clarifying his party’s position in the polls, Sir Ed hit back at Alex: “Let me correct you, today’s poll puts us on 14 per cent, and there’s just a margin of error between four parties and just 10 points between five parties. And that’s one of the reasons why we keep winning at elections.
“You know which party won more council by elections last year than any other party? It was the Liberal Democrats last May, the big set of local elections. We beat both the Labour and the Conservative Party at the same election for the first time ever.
Sir Ed told GB News that he ‘doesn’t want Donald Trump’s America to become Nigel Farage’s Britain’
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GB NEWS
“And at the last general election, we won our best result for over 100 years. So we keep winning and I feel we have a moral responsibility to win because of the divisions that we’re seeing, particularly from Nigel Farage.”
Earlier this month, the peer resigned his Labour membership and said he has “no record or recollection” of alleged financial payments made to him by Epstein.
Mr Mandelson has previously said of his relations with Epstein: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes like everyone else.
“I learned the actual truth about him after his death, and he added that he had relied on assurances of his innocence,” he said. “That turned out later to be horrendously false.”
Lord Mandelson has not responded to previous requests for comment, but we understand that prior to his arrest, his position was he has not acted criminally and did not act for personal gain.