Thomas Butler, Liverpool North Socialist Party
Revelations of the depth of former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s relationship with convicted child sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein hit the headlines after the release of thousands of emails on 30 January. It looked like it might have been the knockout blow for the staggering Keir Starmer, as questions of why he appointed Mandelson as US ambassador, given his links to Epstein were common knowledge at the time. Starmer survived the immediate political threat of the scandal after members of his cabinet eventually gave him their public support. He did have to jettison his political advisor and Mandelson mentee Morgan McSweeney, and promise to release files relating to Mandelson’s appointment.
The first release of the Mandelson files on 12 March shows the fallout from this scandal continues. Included in this release was that Mandelson genuinely believed he was entitled to a payoff after being removed from his role in public office! He asked for a payout of over half a million pounds – the government negotiated him down to £75,000 – how will he survive?!
Lords like Mandelson receive tens of thousands of pounds while ordinary working-class people face a spaghetti of legal conditions to even receive a penny if hounded out of their job involuntarily.
It is often the Conservative Party that is associated with misconduct, scandals and sleaze. However this has shown yet again that there is very little to separate Starmer’s New Labour Mark II and the Tories. They both stand for the interests of the bosses and are prepared to use any dodgy connections they have to cosy up to leaders like Trump.
What is needed is a genuine democratic mass workers’ party to challenge the rotten establishment. A party in which the likes of Mandelson would not even get a sniff at an influential position as workers would democratically choose their own representation. Unlike the Labour Party’s undemocratic top-down nature, in which it is now known that Starmer was warned of Mandelson’s links with Epstein but still went ahead with his appointment.
There is more to come out from this scandal with more documents to be published in the coming months after the police finish their investigation of Mandelson for misconduct in public office. It further reinforces that, as he is wedded to the rotten capitalist system, Starmer’s government will continue to stumble from crisis to crisis. We need a real alternative for the working class, armed with a socialist programme.
