Energy Secretary Ed Miliband admits “worry” over Lord Peter Mandelson appointment.
Ed Miliband on Sky News on Tuesday (Image: Sky News)
Ed Miliband has admitted he was “worried” about Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador.
The Energy Secretary told how he “steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader” in a frank interview with Sky News on Tuesday.
Mr Miliband added that he thought “it could blow up, it could go wrong” when Mandelson was appointed to the UK’s top diplomatic role.
He said Lord Mandelson should never have been appointed because of what was already known about his links with Jeffrey Epstein, his lobbying work and his record of being sacked twice from Government.
When that record was put to Mr Miliband, he told Sky News: “You’re saying he should never have been appointed and I agree with you.”
Asked if Sir Keir Starmer should lose his job, he said: “I don’t think so, no. Obviously, I don’t.
“I think Prime Ministers make errors. Prime Ministers are fallible. Prime Ministers are human. ”
But Mr Miliband pointed out that “I steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader in 2010”.
Asked what he thought when Lord Mandelson’s appointment was announced, he said: “That it could blow up, that it could go wrong.”
He added: “I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment and I said I was worried about it … I think he was worried about it too.”
The Cabinet Minister added that this has been a “very damaging episode” for the Government.
He made the comments on what is set to be a second bruising day for Sir Keir as the Foreign Office official he sacked over failures to tell him about Mandelson’s failed security vetting is grilled by MPs.
Sir Olly Robbins will have a chance to respond to the Prime Minister, who blamed the sacked senior civil servant for “deliberately” keeping him in the dark over Lord Mandelson’s failure to pass security vetting checks before taking the Washington DC posting.
The House of Commons will subject the Prime Minister’s latest efforts to lay out the facts of the scandal to further scrutiny on Tuesday, as MPs hold an emergency debate on Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
Sir Olly, until last week the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, will reportedly tell the Foreign Affairs Committee that the Government pressured him into clearing Lord Mandelson, despite the peer’s relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and business links to Russia and China.
Lord Mandelson, who spent nine months as US ambassador before fresh details of his relationship with Epstein emerged, was a political appointment to the plum diplomatic role, rather than the Washington job going to a career diplomat.