𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Keith Vaz, remember him? The former Labour minister who took sleaze to a whole new level during his 32 years as an MP. The reason that I mention the ex-Leicester East shyster is that I spotted him on the train on my way into Westminster this week.

It got me thinking about political scandals and how there is a common perception that they are, by and large, only committed by those on the Right. Profumo, Cecil Parkinson, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken, David Mellor, Edwina Currie and John Major, and Neil Hamilton all spring to mind. More recently, the tumult of the Boris Johnson era adds further grist to the mill.

But Labour too, not to mention the Liberal Democrats, have had more than their share of scandals. None more so than a certain Peter Mandelson whose misdemeanours date back over more than three decades. He had already been fired from two previous governments before Sir Keir Starmer decided to give him the plum diplomatic role of being Our Man in Washington.

As night follows day, there was duly another Mandy scandal . The latest, his connections with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, have pretty much helped end Sir Keir’s time as Prime Minister.

Mandelson was back in the news this week as more toe curling and hugely embarrassing correspondence between him and members of the government while he was US ambassador were revealed. While the latest tranche of emails and WhatsApps were extensive, many more weren’t published, some were “disappearing messages” meaning they can’t be viewed.

“It completely stinks”, one senior Tory told me over lunch on Tuesday. A day later, some unpublished messages were reported. Were the details leaked by a certain shamed peer from beyond his political grave?

One story, however, has dominated this week – the desperately sad murder of Henry Nowak and the inhumane circumstances around his final moments. It has triggered a highly charged debate over religious freedoms, DEI practices and the relationship between the public and police.

Amidst the unimaginable pain, the teenager’s grieving father, Mark Nowak, pleaded with the British public to not let his son’s murder “be used to create further hatred, division or tension.”

A night of disgraceful rioting in Southampton aside, his pleas have largely been upheld.

But, as is often the case, the political world is more volatile. Nigel Farage used a video address to call for people to respond with “pure, cold rage” as he hit out at “two-tier policing” where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.

He made some valid points but his remarks about rage really lit the blue touch paper, but getting the reaction he wanted with the crunch Makerfield by-election just two weeks away. Reform UK is trying to beat Andy Burnham in the north west constituency but their only hope of doing so is being hampered by Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party which is syphoning away support from his old party.

It has ignited the battle for the Right of the Right in British politics and has seen both Elon Musk and the White House weigh in for good measure. Whilst all politicians have expressed their views this week, Kemi Badenoch has stood head and shoulders above all others. At every stage the Conservative leader has struck the right tone between raw emotion, as a mother-of-three, and cool, calm-headed leadership urging unity.

Her interview on Good Morning Britain with Ed Balls and Susanna Reid on Tuesday was extremely powerful, as were others she did on that day. I’m told that Balls, the former Labour Cabinet Minister, had seen how Mrs Badenoch had reacted when she saw Mr Farage’s video address shortly before appearing on the sofa and chose to lead the interview on that.

The following day she showed restraint, respectfulness and political nous by not using the tragedy and the fallout as her focus in PMQs. It was, in fact, Sir Keir Starmer, in some of his most impactful moments as Prime Minister, who lashed out at the Reform UK leader’s remarks.

Both Mrs Badenoch and Sir Keir met with the Nowak family on Friday and I have been told that Mr Farage has been in contact with them to express his condolences and hopes to meet them soon.

Let’s hope our nation’s politicians can unite behind Mr Nowak’s powerful words, making it clear he will not stop until something changes. “We want to use Henry’s heartbreaking story to make change for the better. No other family should experience the heartbreak and horror of losing a child to knife crime,” he said.