The “end of days” is looming for Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership as he faces a ferocious backlash over Lord Mandelson, Sir Mel Stride has claimed.
Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Chancellor described a “dumbfounded” atmosphere in the House of Commons today after the Prime Minister admitted that he knew about Mandelson’s ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein before handing him the plum role of UK Ambassador to the US.
Addressing Sir Mel, GB News host Martin Daubney said: “Mel Stride, you’ve been in politics for some time now, and dare I say you’ve seen your own end of days around the final time of Boris Johnson.
“How are you feeling now? This feels pretty terminal for Sir Keir Starmer.”
Sir Mel replied: “It has a feeling at the end of days about it, and it’s not surprising because it comes to the heart of the matter, which is the judgment of the Prime Minister, which seems to have been so far off what is acceptable that you can just feel the wolves circling.
“And I sat through Prime Minister’s Questions just now, and the look on the faces of some of those Labour backbenchers, you know, was just dumbfounded and slightly shocked, actually, because what the Prime Minister did was to appoint Mandelson.
“And we’ve established this through forensic questioning from Kemi Badenoch today, despite the fact that he now accepts only having been dragged to the House of Commons to say this that he knew that Mandelson had had contact with Epstein after he had accepted that he had trafficked in minors and was a paedophile, and so on.
“And that really calls into question his judgement here.”
Mel Stride said that the ‘wolves are circling’ Sir Keir Starmer
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GB NEWS
Westminster insiders are already comparing the crisis to the scandal that toppled Boris Johnson.
One senior Labour figure reportedly described the situation as “Boris and Chris Pincher on steroids”.
Sir Keir came under intense pressure during Prime Minister’s Questions as he confirmed the Government plans to publish documents, unless doing so would compromise national security or Britain’s international relationships.
The stance has triggered unease on Labour’s backbenches, with mounting concern inside the party that the Prime Minister is facing the threat of a significant rebellion.
The Prime Minister responded by confirming No10 had knowledge of some of the details ahead of Lord Mandelson’s appointment | PA
Veteran left-wing MP John McDonnell accused No10 of leaving itself exposed to serious accusations, warning the restrictions were so broad they risked “collusion in a cover-up”.
He later suggested Sir Keir would be forced into yet another reversal before the end of the day.
“The attempt to limit what can be made public in the Mandelson inquiry has met resistance from Labour MPs, and as a result the Government is now being pushed into retreat,” Mr McDonnell said.
Intervening in the debate, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner argued that the Intelligence and Security Committee should be handed responsibility for overseeing the release of sensitive material.
She said the scale of public anger, combined with what she described as the “sickening behaviour” of Peter Mandelson, made transparency essential, and questioned why the ISC should not play a role in maintaining public trust in the process.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed the debate on Lord Mandelson will now run until 7pm.