Lord Glasman has said the Mandelson affair has turned “from a mistake into a calamity” and that it is “obvious” that the Prime Minister is not up to the job.
Speaking on GB News Lord Glasman said: “I wrote that memorandum from when I was at the inauguration [of Donald Trump] and it was so obvious that it was a political mistake. It was just a political mistake.
“It wasn’t just Epstein – we all knew. The whole country knew that Peter Mandelson with Global Counsel was involved in Russia and with China. And all those photos of him blowing out the birthday candles and wearing his dressing gown with Jeffrey Epstein.
“So for me, this was just a political decision that was mistaken. And you know, in life, as is lived by normal people, it’s when you make a mistake, you own the mistake, you apologise and you do something about it.
“But this story is amazing to me because it’s lingered since then. Morgan McSweeney, who I really respected very much as a force for sanity in Number 10, had to go because of it. Now we’ve got other resignations and sackings going on.
“It has turned from a mistake into a calamity, and so I just think that the basic government; I mean, there is a war in Iran, there is a war in Ukraine.
“Decisions have to be made about the economy, about energy, and all I’m getting is this story about Peter Mandelson. So unless you can just come out and say, I made a mistake, and own it, this is going to carry on lingering.
“This is the problem about being a lawyer rather than a politician. You make political judgments.
“And it turns out that in the dying days of the Brown government, they passed the law which I cannot conceivably understand, which says that civil servants shouldn’t tell the fundamental truth to ministers; a complete violation of parliamentary sovereignty and decision-making.
“So it looks like Starmer is mounting a legal defence, but he’s up against Olly Robbins, who’s going to mount a legal defence. So this is going to go into an argument about process, which is absolutely the wrong way to go, and they’re going to draw the wrong conclusions.
“Politicians should govern and make decisions in our sovereign democracy. And the abdication of responsibility and the turn to procedure is really not the way ahead.
“Sometimes you’ve got to make judgments in life. I’ve always been loyal, as you know, I’ve always been, actually, very supportive of this Prime Minister, hoping he could lead a national renewal.
“But there comes a moment in life where you’ve got to make a judgement and at the moment, all of this is getting in the way of proper government.
“We can’t move. It feels like government is static and it’s ad hoc. And sometimes you’ve got to say to someone that you thought they could do the job, but it’s obvious they can’t. And that’s where we are at the moment.
“I’m really, really concerned about the condition of our armed forces. I’m still very concerned that the boats have not been stopped. I’m still very concerned that my beloved Labour Party is not giving our country the government that it needs.
“To secure the borders. They backed away from welfare reform, I can’t see the signs of industrial strategy. All I hear is Peter Mandelson, and this is blocking effective government.”