Senior ministers in Sir Keir Starmer’s government harboured significant reservations about his decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said both he and then-foreign secretary David Lammy had worries about Lord Mandelson being given the job as ambassador to the US because of the risk it could “blow up”.
Lord Mandelson was dismissed after nine months due to his links with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, a scandal still damaging Sir Keir’s premiership. Mr Miliband, a former Labour leader, argued the appointment was wrong, citing Mandelson's known Epstein connections, his lobbying firm’s ties to Chinese and Russian companies, and his record of being sacked twice from government.
The Prime Minister faced over two hours of questioning from MPs on Monday after it emerged the peer failed vetting checks but was still granted security clearance for the post.
When that record was put to Mr Miliband, he told Sky News: “You’re saying he should never have been appointed and I agree with you.”
Asked if Sir Keir should lose his job, he said: “I don’t think so, no. Obviously I don’t.
“I think prime ministers make errors. Prime ministers are fallible. Prime ministers are human.”
Mr Miliband has denied any ambition to return to the Labour leadership if Sir Keir is ousted, but he is seen as a popular figure within the party.
He pointed out that “I steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader in 2010”.
Asked what he thought when Lord Mandelson’s appointment was announced, he said: “That it could blow up, that it could go wrong.”
He added: “I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment, and I said I was worried about it … I think he was worried about it too.”
Mr Miliband said he did not have a conversation directly with the Prime Minister about appointing Lord Mandelson.
“Maybe I wasn’t the person that people would necessarily ask, I think people knew my view on Peter Mandelson,” he added.
Mr Miliband said Sir Keir should not be forced out over the Mandelson row.
He said: “You’re asking me should Keir Starmer resign over the appointment of Lord Mandelson? And I’m saying to you, no, I don’t think he should.
“Because I think if every time a prime minister made a mistake they resigned, we would shuttle through prime ministers like nobody’s business.
“Prime ministers make mistakes.
“I think on big judgments for this country, the biggest judgment of all, whether to join the war against Iran, Keir Starmer made a big and fundamental correct judgment.”
The fallout from the Lord Mandelson appointment has added to pressure on Sir Keir, who has seen Labour’s poll ratings tumble since the 2024 election landslide.
A bruising set of elections in May could prove the trigger for rivals to move against the Prime Minister.
Senior Labour MP Sarah Champion said a leadership challenge is “absolutely the last thing that we want right now”, but was blunt about the challenge facing Sir Keir.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I’ll be honest with you, people don’t like Keir on the door but it’s not over this Mandelson thing. They don’t like him personally.
“There’s been a fantastic campaign by opposition parties to undermine him.”
She said people were more concerned by events in Iran and rising energy costs, adding: “I think that so much attention being given to the minutiae of this just confirms the Westminster bubble in their mind and they don’t like it.”
Watch: Olly Robbins gives evidence after Starmer sacking in Mandelson vetting row
Starmer-Mandelson latest: Trump slams PM again ahead of Olly Robbins’ evidence
Who is Olly Robbins? The man sacked over Mandelson vetting scandal
Swinney ‘politely’ declined Trump’s invitation to White House banquet. Here’s why
I knew that Mandelson failed security vetting. So why didn’t Keir Starmer?
Starmer grilled over Independent front page on Mandelson amid fight for survival
