Given what has emerged about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, it was both inevitable and right that he should be sacked from one of the most prestigious, high-profile and sensitive roles in public life. No individual, whatever their talents, is bigger than the standing of the country they purport to represent on the national stage.
Two questions arise immediately from this affair. First, why Sir Keir Starmer appointed him in the first place; and why, in recent days, the prime minister continued to express such belief in his friend and ally.
