After a string of new Epstein revelations over the weekend Peter Mandelson wrote to Labour’s general secretary Hollie Ridley last night to resign his Labour membership and said:
“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.
Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.
While doing this, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.
I want to take this opportunity to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.
I have dedicated my life to the values and success of the Labour Party and in taking my decision, I believe I am acting in its best interests.”
Starmer vaguely suggested that Mandelson should testify before Congress: “Anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that.” Couldn’t even bring himself to remove Mandelson’s membership himself…
The scandal will persist – tax lawyer Dan Neidle is pursuing several lines of inquiry on Mandelson this morning including what he claims to be evidence of him passing internal sensitive No10 documents to Epstein. The Tories have managed to produce a call for a “thorough independent investigation” into Mandy:
“Keir Starmer and his Chief of Staff appointed Mandelson Ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein, and then refused to act even as the mountain of evidence against him grew.
“Given the Prime Minister’s appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation.”
How long before he gets a sit-down interview with the BBC and a chin-stroking magazine article series this time?
Westminster’s Labour MPs are redirecting staffing resources away from London and out to their constituencies as support for the government falls to record lows. Good luck banging the drum for Labour on the doorstep…
As the government commits its 12th major U-turn Guido hears swathes of the PLP will bolster their constituency operations – often neglected – to try and improve their local popularity and do more basic groundwork. Filling a popularity vacuum left by Starmer’s government…
A glance at the Westminster jobs site W4MP confirms numerous Labour MPs have already begun the process as of Wednesday. With backbenchers in open and often successful rebellion against government policies their constituency staff can advertise just how much their MP is championing constituency concerns…
This is the same instinct that leads Anas Sarwar to tell ministers and Starmer to stay “behind their doors” during the campaign in Scotland. Constituency staff will also provide local support during the May election period. Starmer only gets less popular…
Just over a month on from her comfortable victory in the Labour Deputy Leadership race, Lucy Powell’s footprint on Labour’s website and social media channels is virtually non-existent. Aside from a 60-word article shared on the day of the announcement (under ‘member updates’), the only mention of Powell’s title is buried on the NEC page. She appeared on the party’s Instagram profile the day she won, and hasn’t returned since. Almost as if she wasn’t the top brass’s preferred candidate…
The ‘Labour people’ tab doesn’t mention Powell by name, or even that Labour has a Deputy Leader. The prominent photo on the front of that page used to feature Sir Keir, Rachel Reeves, and Powell’s predecessor Angela Rayner. Now it’s just the first two. Even the ‘latest’ news tab, which was updated this week following the Winter Budget, somehow forgot to mention that the Labour Party elected a new Deputy Leader last month. Surely, of all places, that’s where you’d expect to see something…
Labour HQ has launched “Campaign 365” – a frantic 14-part training push to win over voters. Guido has seen the latest campaign session on how to “take on” Nigel Farage and Reform UK. Strategists admit Reform’s message is cutting through, labelling it a “triple threat” built on immigration, net zero scepticism, and anti-establishment anger, lumping the Tories and Labour into “one box”. Shouldn’t come as a surprise…
The new strategy orders campaigners to undermine Farage’s “underdog” image, drag up old “questionable” comments about Putin and the NHS, and portray Reform as a personal vanity project with Farage as the “king.” If it sounds familiar that’s because it is…
Campaigners say Reform has to be taken “seriously” but insist that it could witness its “destruction” at the hands of Farage’s “ability to fall out with people that don’t fall into line is phenomenal… it’s a pathological situation seemingly throughout most of his life.” Not much of an attack strategy…
According to the strategists Labour’s internal polling shows one in five of their 2024 voters view the Reform leader favourably. The party line now demands they highlight “why he shouldn’t be Prime Minister.” If that’s all they’ve got, it might be a difficult 365 days for Labour doorknockers…
Yesterday, Guido brought to light the story of a senior Labour party figure who is alleged to have fathered a child with another woman while his wife was pregnant, according to allegations in Michael Ashcroft’s explosive book Red Queen. It’s a story that has set tongues wagging amongst Lobby hacks – though some, who are in possession of the details, remain committed to a conspiracy of silence in expectation of an incoming Labour administration. Today Guido’s digging appears at the top of The Times diary column:
“It is rare for the desperate mud-slinging stage to come so early in an election campaign but Tory strategists were keen to draw attention to a paragraph buried in Michael Ashcroft’s recent biography of Angela Rayner. This wasn’t about the Labour deputy leader but an unnamed “senior party figure” who is alleged to have fathered a child out of wedlock while his wife was pregnant. The father’s name is not on the birth certificate, which led tongues to wag in the Red Lion. The story was looked into by journalists years ago and it came to nothing, but the Guido Fawkes blog is getting excited so naturally CCHQ think this could change things. Though they thought that 23 years ago when John Prescott thumped a voter and it only made Labour more popular.”
Stories that begin in diary columns have a way of ending up on the front pages…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”
