Labour backbenchers are at boiling point with the Prime Minister and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the Mandelson affair. On Thursday morning, Keir Starmer apologised to Epstein’s victims. He said: “I am sorry – sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him, and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.” But in a Q&A following the session, Starmer added that he had no reason to believe that Mandelson was lying when he was offered the role. This has not gone down well with some on the Labour backbenches.
While many are voicing their concerns privately, some have begun to go public, speaking to the media, the Commons or putting out statements on social media. Here is the New Statesman’s rolling tracker of MPs who have publicly criticised the PM:
1. Paula Barker
Speaking to the Today programme on Thursday morning the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree said she was “deeply ashamed” of the government’s original amendment to the Conservative Party’s humble address. She told the programme that the Prime Minister has shown that his judgement is questionable, and added that he has a long way to go in building trust with MPs. However, Barker stopped short of calling for Starmer’s departure: “Is there anyone of my colleagues who I would want to see replace him? Genuinely, not even without saying names, there’s nobody who I would be prepared to back at this stage.”
2. Simon Opher
In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, the Labour MP for Stroud said “once again the poor decision-making of those around the Prime Minister is dominating the news agenda.” He added: “The government is rightly being held to account for re-introducing someone to high public office who should never have been there… we can, and must, be better than this.” When asked by the New Statesman what he thought should happen next, Opher said: “McSweeney needs to go.”
3. Rachael Maskell
Speaking to ITV on Thursday, Maskell said revelations about Starmer’s knowledge of Mandelson’s continued association with Jeffrey Epstein have called his judgement into question. The Labour MP for York Central later told the New Statesman that she thinks Morgan McSweeney’s position is now “untenable” owing to his close association with Mandelson. (As the New Statesman revealed earlier this week, it was McSweeney who pushed for Mandelson to be appointed US ambassador).
4. Jo White
White, the MP for Bassetlaw – and the chair of the Labour Red Wall group – said on X: “The only way through this is an ethical reset at the heart of government. We need a cleansing, a wiping away of patronage, favours and friends-first traditions. We came into power with this ambition and too quickly got waylaid.”
5. Richard Burgon
In a speech in parliament on Wednesday, during the debate on the Conservative Party’s humble address, Burgon pointed out that Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was known long before his appointment as ambassador to the US. “How on Earth did Mandelson end up being appointed by the Prime Minister as ambassador to the US?” Burgon later said in a post on X: “A culture of nasty factionalism in the Labour Party meant a blind eye was turned and he was promoted regardless.”
6. Jonathan Hinder
Blue Labour MP, Jonathan Hinder told the BBC’s Politics Live on Thursday that the appointment of Mandelson was a “catastrophic error of judgement” from the Prime Minister and that he should say to MPs, “I cocked up.”
7. Brian Leishman
The MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, Brian Leishman told the News Agents podcast that he thinks McSweeney must go (something he has also said to the New Statesman). When asked by host Lewis Goodall whether he thought the Prime Minister would survive, Leishman responded: “It’s a long way back for him.”
8. Kim Johnson
In a post on X on Thursday evening, the MP for Liverpool Riverside described McSweeney’s operation as “rotten to the core”. She added: “We’re told the adults are in the room. If this is their idea of leadership, No 10 needs gutting from top to bottom.”
9. Karl Turner
Turner, who said he would be willing to resign his seat over the government’s jury trial reforms, has posted on X calling on the Prime Minister to “sack advisers that have proven now to not only have given bad advice numerous times but have now put [his] premiership at imminent risk”. In a later post on X, Turner added: “So this is the stuff I’ve been telling the PM about. The PLP is raging and will just get angrier the longer this sorry saga carries on. Get them gone, PM. Get them GONE!”
10. Emma Lewell
The MP for South Shields posted on X, “I feel physically sick that Mandelson was appointed as ambassador despite his continued relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile.” Lewell said her thoughts would always be with Epstein’s victims. But she joined the chorus of MPs criticising Starmer’s closest advisers: “Those in political life who are more interested in dealing, plotting, grifting and settling factional scores, whilst putting their allies, friends and party above all else, need to be shown the door along with Mandelson.”
11. Ian Byrne
The MP for Liverpool West Derby told Sky News he wasn’t surprised that Mandelson had lied during the vetting process. He added: “What surprises me is that the people around the Prime Minister and the PM himself are actually surprised… He should have listened to the people that were flagging up this was a catastrophic appointment – and he didn’t.”
12. John McDonnell
McDonnell – a former Labour shadow chancellor – said on Tuesday he thought the Mandelson affair was so serious it could bring down Starmer. Comparing the scandal to the Profumo affair, McDonnell said: “It’s as serious as that… This could bring this government down. It could certainly bring Keir Starmer down and this whole team around him, that’s the seriousness of it.”
13. Barry Gardiner
When asked on Newsnight on Wednesday whether he thought the PM should resign, after a long pause Gardiner said Starmer should “think very hard about what is in the country’s best interests”. He said Starmer had tried to “duck… and hide behind process”. He added: “The backbenchers on the Labour benches were just going, ‘Oh for God’s sake, get on with it.’”
14. Neil Duncan-Jordan
The MP for Poole, first elected in 2024, told his local radio station that the government’s entire top team needs to change. On Friday morning he said on BBC Radio Solent: “The Labour party needs to change and that includes the No 10 operation in its entirety, in my view.” Duncan-Jordan said he would have supported Andy Burnham replacing Keir Starmer as prime minister had the Greater Manchester mayor been allowed to stand for parliament. He added: “I think there’s many, many more people who think like this who haven’t yet come out and said so.”
15. Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Ribeiro-Addy – who stood to be the deputy leader of the Labour Party last year and is the MP for Clapham and Brixton – told ITV News that “appointing Mandelson was an unforgivable betrayal of our stance on violence against women and girls. He should never have been anywhere near government.”
16. Andy McDonald
Speaking to the Daily T podcast, McDonald said Starmer’s premiership “hangs by a thread”. He added that the Prime Minister’s excuses for hiring Mandelson are “not washing”.
17. Apsana Begum
Speaking to Channel Four News on Friday evening, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse said Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed. When asked if she thought the Prime Minister should go, Begum said: “I have made my position clear. I think both the Prime Minister and the Chief of Staff [Morgan McSweeney] do need to consider their positions.”
This list will be updated.
[Further reading: Labour MPs are turning on Starmer over the Mandelson scandal]
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Subscribe here to commentThey were intensely relaxed about the appointment. Wonder who they picked up that attitude from!
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