Starmer faces growing Labour revolt amid claim Mandelson dealt with Epstein after conviction: UK politics live

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Lord Mandelson to be sacked as ambassador to the United States over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Responding to reports in The Sun that Lord Mandelson guided Epstein through the criminal process while he was facing charges, Mrs Badenoch said: “These are sickening revelations.

“Mandelson’s position is untenable. Why did Starmer defend him today? How was ‘full due process followed’?

“This is a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better.

“Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now.”

In a memo from 2002 the then Peter Mandelson encouraged the then-prime minister Tony Blair to meet Epstein, The Times has reported.

The newspaper said the memo was due to be made public as part of a National Archives release but was blocked as officials concluded the document may embarrass the UK and harm relations with the US.

Two live televised debates on immigration are being held at 7pm tonight.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will host one debate, on GB News.

Sky News will also stage one in Birmingham, presented by Trevor Phillips. Guests include home office minister Mike Tapp, Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf, shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan and Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart.

Channel crossings have sparked protests at migrant hotels across the country. According to government figures, more than 1,100 people crossing in small boats arrived in Britain last week.

A fourth Labour MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Of course he should go. And he has had good practice in resigning.”

The MP told The Telegraph: “He probably has a standard letter on his website.”

He quit as Trade and Industry secretary in 1998 after accepting a £373,000 loan from then paymaster general to buy a house in west London.

And he quit as Northern Ireland in 2001 after being accused of helping one of the Hinduja brothers get a British passport in return for a £1m donation to the Millennium Dome. Mandelson was cleared by an inquiry.

A third Labour MP has attacked Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Ian Byrne have already done so.

Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, claimed Lord Mandelson was “complicit” and never should have been appointed in the first place.

Ms Johnson told The Telegraph: “I totally agree [with Bell]. But the fact is this was known before he was given this position in America as the ambassador.

“As much as he says on radio that he regrets it, the fact is that he called him his ‘best pal’ in his birthday card, he made money from him.

“That suggests to me a very strong relationship because who sends cards with those comments on? He should never have got it in the first place.”

Peter Mandelson has admitted that more details about his relationship with Jefferey Epstein are “going to come out”.

But, asked whether there were more revelations to come about he and Esptein, Lord Mandelson said: “I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges between us – absolutely. And we know those are going to surface.

“We know they’re going to come out.

“We know they’re going to be very embarrassing, and they know that I’m going to profoundly regret ever having met him and been introduced to him in the first place.”

John Healey has asked the UK armed forces to bolster Nato’s air defences over Poland after the country was forced to shoot down Russian drones in its airspace following an “extremely reckless” move by Vladimir Putin.

The Liberal Democrats have called for a probe into whether the British ambassador to the US has broken the diplomatic code.

Leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Lord Mandelson has serious questions to answer over his relationship with the vile sex trafficker and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“The Civil Service Commission needs to look into whether the ambassador has broken the diplomatic service code by failing to come clean over this sooner.

“With Trump in the White House, we cannot afford to have an ambassador to the United States who is compromised by ’embarrassing’ secrets.”

Commenting on what he knew of Jefferey Epstein’s behaviour at the time he knew him, Lord Mandelson said: “I just would say this … during all the time I was an associate of his, I never saw the wrongdoing. I never saw any evidence of criminal activity.

“I never sought and nor did he offer any introductions to women in the way that allegedly he did for others.

“Perhaps it’s because I’m a gay man, perhaps when I knew him, perhaps when I was associated with him those years ago, as I did with my then partner and now husband, we never, ever saw any evidence or sign of this activity, which has since come to light.

“That’s why I feel so profoundly upset by what has been now revealed about what he did to women and why I feel profoundly upset that I was taken in by him and continued my association with him for far longer than I should have.”

The Independent’s Kate Devlin reports:

Two Labour MPs could secure the 80 nominations crucial to getting on the ballot paper in the party’s deputy leadership race today.

Sources close to Lucy Powell are hopeful she could also pass the threshold.

The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is expected to get the numbers later today – even before the would-be candidates make their pitch at a hustings for other MPs this evening.