SNP Westminster chief Stepen Flynn demanded Prime Minister Keir Starmer sack Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.
Keir Starmer has been urged to fire the UK’s ambassador to the US over his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the Prime Minister should sack Lord Mandelson, who resigned twice from the last Labour Government, without delay.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister tried to defend the peer after it emerged he had written a birthday note to Epstein in 2003 in which he described the late financier as his “best pal”.
Sir Keir said he still had “confidence” in Lord Mandelson and “due process was followed” during his appointment.
But he soon faced calls to dismiss the peer following reports he had supported Epstein while the financier was being investigated for sexual offences.
Reports in both The Sun and Bloomberg revealed emails in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein he was “following you closely and here whenever you need” and urged him to “remember the Art of War” when dealing with prosecutors.
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He is also reported to have told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and told him, “I think the world of you” the day before he began his sentence.
Flynn said: “Keir Starmer must sack Peter Mandelson without further delay – and come clean about what he knew when, and whether he sanctioned blocking the publication of damaging material.
“UK government documents shouldn’t be hidden from the public just because they are damaging to the Labour Party – and by backing Peter Mandelson to the hilt, the Prime Minister’s own reputation is now on the line.
“Keir Starmer is always quick to throw his colleagues under the bus when it suits him – so it is staggering that he has aligned himself so closely with Lord Mandelson, particularly given the increasingly precarious nature of the Prime Minister’s own position.
“Voters were promised change and a better future but, under Keir Starmer, the UK has gone from bad to worse.
“The Labour government is caked in constant chaos and sleaze, the cost of living is soaring, unemployment is at a four-year high, child poverty is at record levels, the UK economy has been downgraded and public finances have deteriorated.”
Reports of emails between Lord Mandelson and Epstein have also prompted calls by Conservative and Labour politicians for the ambassador to be sacked.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch described the revelations as “sickening” and said Lord Mandelson’s position was “untenable”.
Asking why Sir Keir had continued to defend him in the Commons, Badenoch said: “This is a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better.
“Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now.”
She was joined by Labour backbenchers Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome, who also called for Lord Mandelson to be sacked “immediately”.
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