𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Sir Keir Starmer may have felt a wash of relief when Martin Lewis defenestrated his rival on live television. It made for tremendously good television when the Mr Lewis, the ‘Money Saving Expert’, stormed into the Good Morning Britain studio to lampoon Kemi Badenoch about her plans to reduce student loan interest. But it also obscured a rather larger news story.

Just moments before the encounter, Kemi had been suggesting that Sir Keir might be hoping the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor saga would draw attention away from the Prime Minister’s own scandals. And she has a point.

In particular, the Prime Minister is hoping we will all forget about his involvement in the appointment of Lord Mandelson, the recently arrested personal friend of the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who Sir Keir elevated to the position of US Ambassador. They say the news cycle moves quickly, faster now in an age of social media than ever before, but readers of the Express will no doubt note that Sir Keir has yet to convincingly answer any questions about this – beyond stressing how cross he is with the whole grubby affair.

And with each week that passes, we seem to be slipping further and further away from finding out the truth that Mrs Badenoch was seeking. What did Starmer know when he made the appointment, why did he follow Morgan McSweeney’s advice, and what sort of lawyer just believes everything said to them?

Vetting files, promised to the House of Commons, have not so far been forthcoming. Reports have even circulated that we could be waiting until after Sir Keir’s first term in office before being granted the indescribable privilege of scrutinising those who live off the public purse – such as Lord Mandelson in his role as ambassador.

Kemi was right to raise these points, and the same questions must be asked again and again until answers are forthcoming.

Sir Keir may have thought his attempts to focus attention on Andrew, including hints about plans to change the line of succession, will be enough to pull the wool over people’s eyes and make us forget about Mandelson. Fat chance! How stupid does he think we are?

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He may even believe that the embarrassing display on the telly (for which only Martin has apologised – not GMB) was enough to see the shadow of scandal from his own back.

But I doubt people will be fooled. Sir Keir is Prime Minister; the buck stops with him, and no amount of faux outrage or feeble attempts to divest himself of the responsibility for his actions will change that. The public deserves answers about Sir Keir’s involvement with Lord Mandelson, and knowledge of the peers’ scandal mired in the past.

Anything less is an insult.