Sir Keir Starmer will face accusations he misled the Commons over his appointment of Peter Mandelson if there is not “absolute consistency” between what he told MPs and government files, Harriet Harman has said.
The former Labour deputy leader’s comments on Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast come after the government published documents detailing the vetting process undergone by Lord Mandelson when he was made US ambassador last year.
He was subsequently sacked over his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Politics latest: Starmer facing questions after files released
Baroness Harman told Sky News politics editor Beth Rigby: “I’m sure the opposition will be looking at the documents to see whether or not there’s absolute consistency between what the prime minister said to the House of Commons and what’s in the documents, because if there’s not then it will raise the issue of misleading the House.”
The veteran Labour peer, who was deputy leader while Lord Mandelson was in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, led the parliamentary inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled the House of Commons over the partygate scandal.
She was highly critical of Sir Keir’s decision to hand the ambassador job to Mandelson.
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“Why on earth would you have any trust in somebody whose actions had already required them to be fired twice?” she said.
“The question is, how Keir Starmer could have gone ahead with that appointment when there was already more or less a prediction that there was going to be a problem?
“It was just inevitably going to go wrong, which of course it did.”
Baroness Harman said the evidence contained in the files published this week – and seen by the PM when he made the appointment – should have told him Lord Mandelson was the “wrong person”.
Sir Keir has claimed Lord Mandelson lied repeatedly during the vetting process.
Lord Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing over his relationship with Epstein, and has apologised to the financier’s victims.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said he should resign over the revelations, accusing Sir Keir of having “lied repeatedly about what he knew when, and how”.
The documents revealed Sir Keir was informed before the appointment that:
• Lord Mandelson was “particularly close” with Epstein and there was a “general reputational risk” to appointing him
• He stayed in Epstein’s house in 2009 while he was in jail for procuring an underage girl
• Lord Mandelson agreed to be a “founding citizen” of an ocean conservation group founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend, and funded by Epstein.
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The documents also revealed:
• National security adviser Jonathan Powell was particularly cautious about Lord Mandelson’s appointment
• Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s then-chief of staff, said he was “satisfied” with Lord Mandelson’s responses to questions about his relationship with Epstein
• Sir Keir was warned against making a political appointment, rather than a diplomatic one, and was told it could expose the PM
• Lord Mandelson asked for a settlement payment of £574,201 for his seven-month tenure, but agreed to £75,000 “with minimal fuss”.
