GB News host Camilla Tominey has shut down a Labour MP for defending Sir Keir Starmer’s “swift action” amid the Peter Mandelson scandal.
Speaking to the People’s Channel, Rosie Wrighting claimed the Prime Minister “did not know” the “full extent” of the disgraced peer’s relations with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Taking issue with Ms Wrighting’s argument, Camilla highlighted that much of the evidence about Mr Mandelson was “in the public domain”, including in an article she co-wrote for The Telegraph.
Camilla told the Labour MP: “It simply cannot be the case that the Prime Minister didn’t know, we’re talking about a former director of public prosecutions here. So one would imagine he’s quite good at weighing up evidence when it comes to prosecuting or defending a case.
“One of the articles that were put before him was a 2,100-word piece that I co-wrote with two Telegraph colleagues back in January 2024, laying bare the true extent of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. We had all of the information then, it was all in the public domain?!
“So it simply cannot be the case that the Prime Minister can deny Mandelson’s links to Epstein. They were written in an article by journalists like me?”
Defending the Prime Minister, Ms Wrighting responded by applauding Sir Keir’s “swift action” following the release of the Mandelson files.
Hitting back at the Labour MP, Camilla argued: “Well, he didn’t, did he? He didn’t take swift action. He stood up in the House of Commons and expressed his full confidence in Peter Mandelson. And then Peter Mandelson, the next day was forced out of his job.”
Labour MP Rosie Wrighting has been handed a fiery GB News grilling after defending Keir Starmer’s ‘swift action’ on Peter Mandelson
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GB NEWS
Pressing Ms Wrighting on her defence of Sir Keir, Camilla questioned how she can “expect people to believe Keir Starmer was duped” by Mr Mandelson.
She told the Labour MP: “He gets warned by Jonathan Powell, his own national security adviser, that the whole appointment has been ‘weirdly rushed’, he gets warned by other officials that this is a terrible idea, he’s got evidence supplied by the likes of Telegraph journalists like me and others of the true extent of the very close, very chummy relationship between Mandelson and Epstein, and we’re meant to believe that he was duped by this bloke?
“This guy’s a former lawyer – why on earth can’t he see through Mandelson’s lies when everybody else knows exactly what his history is?”
Making clear that Mr Mandelson “should never have been appointed”, Ms Wrighting told GB News: “He should never have been in that role, and the Prime Minister has apologised for his part to play in meaning he was.
Sir Keir Starmer has come under growing pressure over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK’s man in Washington
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PA“What I want to see from my Government is action being taken so nothing like this ever happens again, and we see a systematic change in our process of appointing very important roles.”
She added: “That’s what I want to see, is change in the system, a review into our vetting process so this never happens again, and I think that’s what we’re going to see from our Government.”
Quizzed by Camilla on whether Sir Keir should “resign” if he is found to have “misled parliament” on the Mandelson appointment, Ms Wrighting reiterated her call for an “open process” and reform of the vetting process.
She said: “I want to see an open process of finding out what happened here.
Ms Wrighting told GB News that she wants to seen an ‘open process’ in investigating how Peter Mandelson was appointed
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GB NEWS
“I think that’s what we’re seeing with the release of the documents, and we will continue to see in the upcoming months so that this never happens again.”
Mr Mandelson has previously said of his connection to Epstein: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes.
“Like everyone else, I learned the actual truth about him after his death. I had relied on assurances of his innocence 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 had not acted criminally and did not act for personal gain.