Starmer drama grips MPs

PM in more hot water over Epstein

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Treason, treachery, lies and lies. No, not the latest shenanigans in an episode of “Traitors” (although it could have been) but the political furore over the disgraced Labour figure of Peter Mandelson, who appears to be in some kind of race for the number of resignations he can complete in record time.

The drama played out in the Commons on Wednesday with the other key ingredient of Sir Keir Starmer under fire - again - for his role as the man who both knew a fair amount of what other MPs did and at the same time did not, an invidious position for any politician to be in.

It was a test of his political acumen: could he escape, houdini-like, from the chains that bound him or was he trapped in a political vortex from which there was no escape? No, he couldn’t.

It sounded like he was trapped, tied down in ropes on the unforgiving green benches in the chamber, not the most pleasant of scenarios unless you have in mind the image of Mandelson in his Y-fronts that you can’t erase.

Starmer may have been given a duff hand but it was largely his own making.

As Labour MPs piled in, there was no mistaking the genuine outrage. For once there was nothing synthetic about it. Where will this complex psycho drama go?

Who knows - but Mandelson can’t possibly survive this? Can he? More importantly, can Starmer survive?