… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Peter Mandelson

  • Morning Star Editorial: McSweeney’s missing phone reeks of Establishment cover-up

    Spread the love

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

     Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and then British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC., February 26, 2025

    … Parliament determined last month that all government communications relating to Peter Mandelson’s disastrous appointment as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 be made public.

    That is to allow voters to understand how this first-order misjudgement, naming to the country’s most prestigious diplomatic post a man famous for his overaffection for the rich, twice dismissed from government amid scandal, and most importantly known for his prolonged intimacy with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

    …

    No communications are likely to have been more relevant to the appointment than those from and to McSweeney, then Downing Street chief of staff, effectively running the government as top aide to the ineffectual Keir Starmer.

    McSweeney was mentored by Mandelson as a close associate in Labour’s unending factional wars, with the younger man carrying forward the latter’s obsessive hatred of the left and socialism.

    It is clear that he was instrumental in pushing Keir Starmer to name Mandelson to Washington. It is believed that he was charged with asking the now-disgraced New Labour grandee about his relationship with Epstein.

    While the Prime Minister bears the responsibility, it appears that this was a calamity engineered largely by McSweeney, whose messages on the subject would therefore be central to any understanding of it.

    Yet it is now unclear if we will ever read them. Now, McSweeney announces that his mobile phone was stolen in London last year, a month after Mandelson’s enforced departure from Washington and when it was already highly likely that some form of public accounting for the misjudgement would follow.

    The police concur that McSweeney reported the theft at the time it apparently occurred. Giving an incorrect location, and then asserting that he was near a park in east London when he was in fact miles away in Westminster may perhaps be attributable to the stress of the moment.

    Failing to advise the police that he was the No 10 chief of staff, and that his device held any number of secret communications of state significance is far less comprehensible, since that omission must have downgraded the police response.

    Still odder, No 10 is unable to confirm that the contents of McSweeney’s phone have been fully backed up in line with government regulations for handling official business.

    So on this occasion, the stench of cover-up is powerful, however much Starmer may deny it.

    …

    Read the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/mcsweeneys-missing-phone-reeks-establishment-cover

    Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party's tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer discusses Peter Mandelson, Jeffrey Epstein and the UK Labour Party’s tradition of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
    Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
    Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.

  • Morning Star Editorial: Labour Together is key to the Mandelson scandal

    Spread the love

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-together-key-mandelson-scandal

     Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) and then British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, February 27, 2025

    LABOUR MP Ian Byrne got to the heart of the Mandelson crisis in the Commons on Wednesday. Namely, he made the point that it is in fact a Mandelson-McSweeney-Labour Together scandal and the measures taken by the government in the wake of the New Labour grandee’s disgrace only scratch the surface of what is needed.

    Byrne told MPs that the row over Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington in December 2024 “was not just a catastrophic error of judgment that has caused profound damage to this government’s reputation.

    “It was the result of a clique at the top of the party, as we have seen with the Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together scandal, which I and colleagues … have called on the Prime Minister and the general secretary of the Labour Party to launch an independent investigation into.”

    Socialist Campaign Group secretary Richard Burgon underlined the point, asking how Mandelson was even considered for the Washington job. 

    “It is because it suited the interests of a tiny faction in the Labour Party, funded by big business, which wanted Mandelson at the heart of things in order to shift a Labour government away from the agenda that a real Labour government should have. 

    “That is why Mandelson was popular with these people … and that is why, despite his despicable character, despite his greed and his avarice, he was put in that position.”

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-together-key-mandelson-scandal

    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party's tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party’s tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.

  • Clear Mandelson clique out of Labour, MPs demand

    Spread the love

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/clear-mandelson-clique-out-labour-mps-demand

     The then UK Ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson arriving at the Cabinet Office in central London, June 18, 2025

    ANGRY MPs demanded the clique controlling the Labour Party be cleared out today as further details of disgraced Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington were made public.

    …

    Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that he found “the faux outrage over Mandelson really astonishing” since he had been closely involved in the Labour leadership since the days of Tony Blair.

    Sir Keir “must have known of his character, must have known what he was like,” Mr Corbyn added.

    Norwich Labour MP Clive Lewis said the appointment reflected “a wider rotten political culture, a 30-year project where proximity to wealth and power isn’t a means to an end, it is the end goal. That’s what Peter Mandelson represented.

    “This isn’t just about one bad set of decisions, it’s about a political culture that he represents [which] is destroying mainstream party politics in this country,” he added.

    Steve Witherden, Labour MP for Montgomery, pointed out that “Mandelson’s avarice and malign influence in the Labour Party was why he was made ambassador and why he was useful to Epstein.”

    Green Party leader Zack Polanski said that the “files confirm that Mandelson’s malign influence runs through this Labour government. Starmer knew exactly the choice he was making when he appointed him. He has to go.”

    …

    The documents released reveal that No 10 national security adviser Jonathan Powell raised concerns about Mr Mandelson’s reputation directly with Mr McSweeney, who blandly said “the issues had been addressed.”

    Those issues included Mandelson staying at Mr Epstein’s New York House after the latter’s conviction. Another reputational risk was Mr Mandelson’s promotion of Reform leader Nigel Farage as a possible go-between with the Trump administration.

    Mr Powell found the appointment to be “unusual” and “weirdly rushed,” while the top official at the Foreign Office at the time also had reservations. … Keir [Starmer] ignored them all.

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/clear-mandelson-clique-out-labour-mps-demand

    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party's tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party’s tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
    Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.

  • Arrest of Ex-UK Ambassador Peter Mandelson Over Epstein Ties Sparks Renewed Calls for Justice in the US

    Spread the love

    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Lord Peter Mandelson is seen leaving his home in Wiltshire, England, on February 20, 2026, days before his arrest by UK police on suspicion of misconduct in public office. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

    “In the UK, they are prosecuting the Epstein class…” said Rep. Ro Khanna. “We need accountability in the United States.”

    After a second prominent associate of Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in the UK, calls are growing louder for those in the US who may have been complicit in his crimes to face similar accountability.

    Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, was arrested by police on Monday on “suspicion of misconduct in public office.” The arrest is reportedly in connection with an investigation opened into the former minister earlier this month.

    RECOMMENDED…

    'We Need Justice': Americans Envious as Elites in UK, Korea Face Legal Consequences

    ‘We Need Justice’: Americans Envious as Elites in UK, Korea Face Legal Consequences

    'Our Broken Hearts Have Been Lifted': Epstein-Linked Prince Andrew Arrested in UK

    ‘Our Broken Hearts Have Been Lifted’: Epstein-Linked Prince Andrew Arrested in UK

    Mandelson was dismissed from his ambassadorship by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September after leaked emails showed that he’d maintained a close friendship with Epstein long after the financier had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

    A criminal probe was opened last month after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released more files, suggesting that in 2009, Mandelson—then a member of the UK government—had passed Epstein sensitive internal economic information that could have affected international markets.

    Bank statements also show Mandelson accepting $75,000 from Epstein over several years for an unknown purpose.

    He is the second powerful figure in British society to be arrested amid scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein this month. Last week, former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in office, after emails showed him forwarding trade reports to Epstein, which were produced during his role as an official UK envoy.

    Epstein had been charged with the sex trafficking of dozens of underage girls before his death in jail in 2019, and connections with the financier have led prominent individuals across Europe to be shamed out of office or out of influential corporate positions.

    Neither Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor nor Mandelson has been criminally charged with any sexual misconduct related to the billionaire. However, at least two women have publicly accused Mountbatten-Windsor of having sex with them while underage after procuring them through Epstein.

    In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor settled a civil suit for about £12 million with Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that the former prince had sex with her when she was 17.

    The arrest of yet another British government official for inappropriate dealings with Epstein has only heightened the contrast with the unaccountability of American elites, who have thus far emerged from the Epstein scandal unscathed despite damning connections.

    “Peter Mandelson, the former British Ambassador to the US, was arrested today on suspicion of misconduct in public office. This is after files revealed Jeffrey Epstein sent $75,000 to accounts connected to him,” wrote the official social media account for the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which oversees the release of the files. “As we have said before: No one is above the law. We will make sure accountability and justice come to everyone in Epstein’s world.”

    Files released by the DOJ in January, in compliance with a law passed last year, showed that at least one woman had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s after being introduced to him by Epstein, and that the FBI considered her to be credible, speaking to her on at least four occasions. It is not known what happened as a result of the investigation, and the DOJ slideshow referencing her allegation has since been scrubbed from the department’s website.

    Meanwhile, at least six other members of the current Trump administration have documented ties to Epstein revealed by the files.

    Most notably, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was revealed to have lied when he claimed to have cut off connections to the billionaire in the early 2000s. In fact, Lutnick maintained a relationship with Epstein for nearly a decade after the billionaire registered as a sex offender and even visited his infamous Caribbean island with his family.

    Many other figures in the upper echelon of American society also maintained close relationships with Epstein despite his criminal conviction, including former President Bill Clinton, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

    Following news of Mandelson’s arrest, US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—who has led the charge for the release of the files in full to the American public, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)—said he wanted to see similar investigations and charges against Epstein’s American associates.

    “In UK, they are prosecuting the Epstein class ⁦[Massie]⁩ and I have exposed,” Khanna wrote on social media. “We need accountability in the United States.”

    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
    Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party's tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.
    Keir Starmer discusses the UK Labour Party’s tradion of excusing and protecting child rapists.

  • Streeting urged to release messages with private healthcare-linked donors

    Spread the love

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/streeting-urged-release-messages-private-healthcare-linked-donors

     Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking to the media during a visit to the specialist surgical unit at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester, February 12, 2026

    CAMPAIGNERS have written to Wes Streeting requesting the release of his messages with five private healthcare-linked donors, following the Health Secretary’s publication of WhatsApp chats with disgraced former peer Peter Mandelson.

    The letter, signed by leaders of eight organisations campaigning against NHS privatisation — including We Own It, the Socialist Health Association and Doctors Association UK — said the public has a right to know how health policy is decided.

    They said: “Releasing to the public your messages with these donors (relating to health policy, DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] announcements and NHS contracts) would help assure the public that your policy of increasing the use of the private sector for the provision of NHS services, is not driven by a quid pro quo relationship.”

    Research by the Good Law Project in April 2025 showed 60 per cent of donations received by Mr Streeting since 2015 have come from private healthcare companies or those with financial interests in the sector.

    Mr Mandelson, whose lobbying firm Global Counsel, represents data surveillance firm Palantir, has previously helped to facilitate a meeting between the firm and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/streeting-urged-release-messages-private-healthcare-linked-donors