A former Labour MP said: ‘The more I hear, the angrier I get’.
Sir Keir Starmer remains under mounting pressure over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson (Image: Getty)
A former Labour MP has called Sir Keir Starmer an “a*******” and accused him of throwing civil servants “under the bus”. The embattled Prime Minister continues to come under mounting pressure as the fallout over the vetting for Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US rumbles on.
The Labour leader has faced calls to resign amid revelations about the peer’s vetting process and his handling of it, including his decision to sack Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins. Reports suggest the tide has also been turning against Sir Keir within the party. One former Labour MP has issued a scathing assessment of the under-pressure PM.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Speaking anonymously to Australian outlet The Nightly, the ex-MP suggested Sir Keir has betrayed Government officials placed in an “impossible position”.
They said: “The more I hear, the angrier I get. I think we need to dispense with any notion that he’s a fundamentally decent and loyal public servant.
“At the very least, he put civil servants in an impossible position and then threw them under the bus when it went wrong. He’s an a*******.”
Another Labour source compared the Government to the DLR — the driverless trainline in east London.
“Aloof to the point of fiddling while Rome burns,” they told The Nightly.
Allies of Sir Keir have also admitted the PM is a wounded figure, the outlet reported.
It comes as Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, is set to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Mr McSweeney resigned earlier this year over his role in Lord Mandelson securing the ambassadorship to Washington.
A number of other senior Number 10 officials have stepped down during Sir Keir’s premiership.
Last week, Sir Keir said any claims he misled Parliament over the appointment of Lord Mandelson had been put to bed by Sir Olly’s evidence.
But the Tories have called for Sir Keir to face Parliament’s Privileges Committee, the same body that investigated Boris Johnson over the Covid-19 partygate affair, with reports that a vote on whether to refer the Prime Minister for such a probe could be held on Tuesday.
It is up to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether to allow a vote.