Prime Minister Keir Starmer (right) and then British ambassador to the United States Lord Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, February 27, 2025The PM says Mandelson ‘betrayed our values’ – but ministers and advisers flock to line their pockets with corporate cash, says SOLOMON HUGHES
WES STREETING says Peter Mandelson “fundamentally betrayed our values.” But Mandelson helped write the values of New Labour, which Streeting and Starmer and their whole team are following.
Peter Mandelson denies wrongdoing, but the emails between him and Jeffrey Epstein look like sleazy corruption. It’s no surprise Streeting and Starmer want to put distance between him and them.
But Mandelson’s career follows the “New Labour” method he helped design: taking the side of the rich and big corporations, especially around low tax, deregulation and privatisation.
Taking favours from the rich while in office. Taking lucrative jobs working from the corporations they favoured in government when they leave office.
Squashing the Labour left who might try and stop the party being used as a launchpad for these post-ministerial corporate careers.
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This became a basic “New Labour” pattern: when ministers stood down, many joined the private corporations they helped while in power, with ex-ministers taking jobs with privatised water companies, private security firms like G4S, arms firms and so on.
These post-ministerial careers often pay much more than actually being a minister, so Labour MPs have an incentive to push pro-business policies, even if they are wildly unpopular: Labour might haemorrhage enough working-class support to lose elections, but the ministers end up earning more in the long term.
Starmer’s government brought Mandelson back and bought into all his “New Labour” values. Even though the government is still quite new, we can already see signs that Starmer’s team will also leave government for corporate jobs, just like Mandelson.
Labour rehired one of the key Labour ministers who did this back in the day. Wes Streeting employs Alan Milburn as an adviser.
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The article is detailed and recommended. See the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-whole-team-follow-mandelsons-grubby-example-taking-favours-rich
