Kemi Badenoch has accused Keir Starmer (Labour) of lying about when he knew of Lord Peter Mandelson's supportive emails to Jeffrey Epstein. The Conservative Party leader claimed that if Downing Street possessed the emails for 48 hours before acting, this proves the Prime Minister lied when he backed Mandelson during Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions.
The Foreign Office received a media inquiry about the emails on Tuesday and passed this information to Downing Street. Starmer is understood not to have learned the email contents until Wednesday evening - after he had publicly expressed "confidence" in Mandelson at midday PMQs.
Sir Oliver Robbins, the permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, contacted Mandelson about the emails but received no response until Wednesday afternoon. The decision to dismiss Mandelson was taken Thursday morning and announced immediately afterwards.
Timeline dispute escalates
Badenoch said the situation revealed "very serious questions" for Starmer and demanded "full transparency about who knew what, and when". She claimed that if Number 10 had the emails for two days before removing Mandelson, ministers "lied again about new additional information".
The Government maintained that the published emails revealed "new information" about Mandelson's relationship with Epstein that was "materially different from that known at the time of his appointment". Officials explained the emails came from a long-closed account unavailable during the vetting process.
The controversial emails showed Mandelson telling Epstein to "fight for early release" shortly before the disgraced financier's sentencing. Mandelson also reportedly told Epstein "I think the world of you" the day before he began his 18-month prison sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
Labour party turmoil deepens
This marks the second scandal-hit departure within a week following Angela Rayner's resignation over tax affairs. The twin crises have intensified scrutiny of Starmer's leadership and internal party communications.
Labour MP Olivia Blake called the situation "really embarrassing" if Starmer wasn't informed about the emails quickly enough. She criticised gatekeeping of information to the Prime Minister, saying "whoever's gatekeeping the information to the Prime Minister needs to stop".
Fellow backbencher Clive Lewis publicly questioned Starmer's leadership, telling the BBC the Prime Minister doesn't seem "up to the job". Barry Gardiner warned that "toxic" resentment was festering among Labour MPs and rank-and-file members.
Leadership under pressure
Lucy Powell, a candidate for deputy leader following Rayner's departure, called for a "change of culture" at the top. She told The Guardian there was "a bit of a groupthink happening at the top, that culture of not being receptive to interrogation, not being receptive to differing views".
During a trip to Ukraine, newly appointed Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the decision to dismiss Mandelson as "rightly taken" and backed Starmer's "strong leadership". Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander acknowledged Labour MPs felt "despondent" but said the Government was looking forward to moving on.
Sources used: "PA Media", "The Times", "The Guardian", "BBC", "The Sun", "Bloomberg" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
