Keir Starmer is under intense pressure over the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador in 2024, despite his friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
20:00, 07 Feb 2026Updated 22:59, 07 Feb 2026
Keir Starmer was urged to focus on delivering improvement to people’s lives(Image: PA)
Lord Blunkett has urged Keir Starmer to “get your act together” as the Peter Mandelson scandal threatens to engulf the Government.
The Prime Minister is under intense pressure from within his own party over the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador in 2024, despite his friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Police raided two of Mandelson’s homes on Friday as part of an investigation into allegations he leaked sensitive information to the financier while he was Business Secretary in Gordon Brown’s Government.
Lord Blunkett, a former Home Secretary under Tony Blair, told the Mirror: “The only way to avoid a challenge to the leadership is to “get your act together”; demonstrate success and start winning people back to the vital cause of seeing off the far-right and delivering improvement to the people we care for.”
READ MORE: Peter Mandelson visited by top lawyer who cleared controversial ToryREAD MORE: Gordon Brown says Keir Starmer was ‘too slow’ to act over Mandelson scandal
David Blunkett told the PM to ‘get your act together'(Image: Daily Mirror)
It comes after Mr Starmer apologised to Epstein’s victims for believing Lord Mandelson’s “lies” and accused the Labour grandee of betraying Britain. The Government is preparing to disclose a tranche of documents about his vetting for the post in Washington, which Downing Street believes will show Mandelson lied about his friendship with Epstein. He was sacked last year by the PM as fresh revelations about the depth of their ties emerged.
As the PM grapples with the backlash, Mr Brown today praised him as a “man of integrity”, but warned he had been “too slow to do the right things” to clean up politics. The former Prime Minister described the situation facing Mr Starmer as “serious”, but insisted speculation over his future was part of the job.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair. It happens to everybody about how their future should be gauged. But this is serious, and the task is very clear. The task is we’ve got to clean up the system, a total clean-up of the system, an end to the corruption and unethical behaviour.”
A Government spokesman said action was already being taken to clean up Westminster – and no one must be above accountability. The spokesman said: “Most people who enter public life do so with a strong sense of duty and to make a difference to people’s lives. But the shameful and disgraceful behaviour revealed this week is wholly incompatible with public service, and it is right that no one is above accountability.
“We have already strengthened the ministerial code, giving the independent adviser greater powers to launch investigations, introduced a new monthly register of gifts and hospitality, established a new ethics commission, and ensured that ministers who break the rules cannot receive severance payments.
“But Gordon Brown is right that further action is needed in light of what has emerged this week – and we have already begun urgent work on how we can do more.”
The PM also received a warning from polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice that the scandal could be Labour’s “Partygate”, the controversy which helped to end Boris Johnson’s premiership.
He told The Mirror: “We haven’t forgotten Partygate. And we haven’t forgotten the Liz Truss fiscal event. The problem is that it’s going to enter the lexicon, or could well enter the lexicon. One of the challenges for certainly Starmer personally but also in the risk for the Labour Party more generally is that it tarnishes the brand in a long-term sense.”
A further warning came from the trade unions, with a senior figure saying: “He needs to turn it around and fast. Or he’s done.” However the source added potential leadership rivals like Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham are “untested” on policy ideas.
Mr Starmer this week hosted a group of MPs at his Chequers retreat to try to calm nerves amid rising anger in the parliamentary party. He told them “the last couple of days have been really tough”, and said he was just as “angry and frustrated” as they were.
He added: “We must not lose what brought us here, which is the politics of service and making a difference. Because that behaviour (of Peter Mandelson) challenges what we stand for and that is corrosive and a challenge. We must rise to that challenge.”
However, many MPs remain unconvinced. One Labour backbencher predicted the row over Lord Mandelson was a “slower burner but will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back”. They said the passing of potentially tens of thousands of documents to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is “only delaying the inevitable”.
The MP told The Mirror: “He [the PM] knew even without vetting, Mandelson maintained a relationship [with Epstein] after he was convicted. That should have been enough. They didn’t need more information to come forward. It’s Boris Gov 2.0 on digging themselves a deeper hole and not reading the room I’m afraid.”
Keir Starmer is under fire over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador(Image: AP)
Another MP said: “It’s f***ing over, it was before, but it was less over. Things have shifted for colleagues in the last 36 hours.” Others were more kind about the PM, but suggested the position of his chief aide Morgan McSweeney – who some blame for the decision to appoint Mandelson – was untenable.
Asked what they thought of the PM’s press conference, where he apologised to victims, a Labour MP from the 2024 intake said: “It doesn’t change anything. If we are hammered in Gorton and Denton, then it’ll be it (for Starmer). If we come third, it’ll be it. I can’t believe I’m saying that.”
One MP said the majority of backbenchers recognised it was a mistake and had no appetite for a leadership challenge. They said: “We were elected two years ago, for all people’s understandable frustration with this week, I think people still don’t want a leadership race.
“The people who shout the loudest are the ones who say they want change, but the majority of people, who might not speak to journalists, are cracking on with their work, and recognise mistakes happen. If someone were to go over the top, I think they would find the silent majority would not be with them on any kind of challenge.”
Another MP from the 2024 intake said it felt like the Government was starting to turn things around at the beginning of the year. They added: “People on the doorstep – without being prompted – said that they were pleased with how he stood up to Donald Trump on Greenland. But now we seem to be back where we started.”
But a third MP said they understood the Prime Minister’s frustration after his speech designed to bang the drum for the government’s Pride in Place scheme – funding for deprived areas – was overshadowed by the Mandelson scandal.
The MP said: “If you look at what he said in his speech, he showed us him at his best. He was talking about cohesion and standing up against division. He really does care about that.”