Gordon Brown said the crisis engulfing Keir Starmer over Peter Mandelson was “serious” and that the Labour leader had been “too slow to do the right things,” even as he backed Starmer as “a man of integrity” who had been “betrayed” by his former Cabinet ally.
The intervention from the former prime minister came as the Metropolitan Police confirmed its misconduct-in-public-office investigation into Mandelson will “take some time,” after officers searched properties in London and Wiltshire. Mandelson has not been arrested.
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“I can confirm that officers from the Met’s central specialist crime team have carried out searches at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area, and another in the Camden area,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart said. “He has not been arrested and inquiries are ongoing. This will be a complex investigation requiring a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis. It will take some time to do this work comprehensively and we will not be providing a running commentary.”
Scotland Yard opened the probe following allegations that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as business secretary in Brown’s government during the financial crisis. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Brown said he regretted giving Mandelson a peerage and bringing him back into government in 2008. He described feeling “shocked, sad, angry, betrayed, let down” when he saw messages between Mandelson and Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The row has piled pressure on Starmer over his decision to appoint Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite knowing Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein continued after the 2008 conviction. Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while speculation about leadership “happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair,” the current moment is different. “This is serious, and the task is very clear,” he said. “We’ve got to clean up the system, a total clean-up of the system, an end to the corruption and unethical behaviour. And if we don’t do it, we’ll pay a heavy price.”
Pressed on whether Starmer remains the right person to lead the country, Brown replied: “I can look in his eyes and I can see that he is a man of integrity. He wants to do the right things. Perhaps he’s been too slow to do the right things, but he must do the right things now, and let’s judge what he does, on what happens in the next few months when he tries to, and I believe will try, to clean up the system.”
Brown urged structural reform, including U.S.-style public confirmation hearings for ministers and senior government appointments, and he condemned what he called a systemic failure of vetting. He said alleged lies by Mandelson during the appointment process for the Washington post were “not sufficient explanation for what happened.”
Responding to the spiralling controversy, a government spokesman said work was under way to tighten standards at Westminster. “Most people who enter public life do so with a strong sense of duty and to make a difference to people’s lives,” the spokesman said. “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.”
The spokesman said ministers had already strengthened the ministerial code, expanded the independent adviser’s powers to launch investigations, introduced a monthly register of gifts and hospitality, established a new ethics commission, and ensured ministers who break 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 spokesman added.
With police work intensifying and Westminster grappling with how to restore public trust, the pace and scope of Starmer’s promised clean-up now loom as decisive tests of his leadership.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
