News / Labour candidate backs Starmer despite growing quit calls over Mandelson
LABOUR’S candidate to represent Shetland in Holyrood has backed Prime Minister Keir Starmer to keep his job amid growing anger over the appointment of Lord Mandelson.
Starmer is coming under increasing fire for selecting Lord Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to the US in 2024, with Mandelson quitting the Labour Party and House of Lords last week after the scale of his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in new documents.
The prime minister’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney also resigned on Sunday after taking full responsibility for Starmer’s decision to appoint Lord Mandelson.
That has not stopped calls for Starmer to be the next to quit, with mounting pressure both from within and out with the Labour Party.
However he has political support in the form of John Erskine, who is standing to be Shetland’s next MSP in the Scottish elections in May.
Erskine said that Starmer had “shown he will act when things go wrong” in the face of the Mandelson saga.
“Lord Mandelson lied repeatedly about the nature and extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, including during the formal vetting process,” Erskine told Shetland News.
“It was right that he was removed from his role immediately and stripped of positions of privilege, and it is right that the police now investigate the very serious allegations that have emerged.”
But he said the prime minister had “not sought to minimise this or deflect responsibility” from his role in the row.
“He has been open that, had he known then what is now known, Mandelson would never have been appointed,” Erskine said.
“That willingness to acknowledge a mistake, act decisively, and put the facts before Parliament stands in sharp contrast to the culture of denial and evasion people have become used to in politics.”
Erskine has backed Starmer to keep his job, saying that he still had a “clear plan for national renewal” that he needed time to carry out.
“One individual’s misconduct, serious though it is, does not outweigh the mandate the government has been given or the work already under way to deliver for the country,” he said.
“To those inside and outside the party calling for him to quit, I would say this: the public expect high standards, but they also expect leadership that is steady and focused on delivery.
“Keir Starmer has shown he will act when things go wrong, take responsibility, and keep the government focused on the bigger job of change.
“That is exactly what he is doing now, and why he should continue to lead the government as it delivers on its programme of change and renewing Britain.”
Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador last September after it emerged he had remained friends with Epstein in the wake of his 2008 conviction for child sex offences.
It was revealed last week that Lord Mandelson could also have leaked government information to Epstein while a minister in the previous Labour government, which has led to a police investigation.
The latest string of stories comes on the back of anger in the Labour Party last month after Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – seen as a prospective challenger to Starmer – was blocked from standing in a by-election.
The other candidates standing for the Shetland seat in May’s election, in alphabetical order, are: Alex Armitage (Greens), John Erskine (Labour), Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP), Emma Macdonald (Lib Dems) and Brian Nugent (Sovereignty).
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