Ohmyfeckingod! Giving an interview on Sky, Starmer has thrown Mandelson under the bus! It just gets better and better. Mandy will definitely have the knives out now. There is no way he will let that lie. New microwave with popcorn feature on order.
Starmer: 'Had I known then what I know now, I'd have never appointed Mandelson'
The prime minister has told broadcasters that he would never have appointed Lord Peter Mandelson to the post of UK ambassador to the US if he had known what he knows now about the extent of his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he sacked Mandelson on Thursday last week, Sir Keir Starmer explained that a "due diligence process" was conducted before he was appointed to the post in February.
"I knew of his association with Epstein," Starmer said.
"But had I known then what I know now, I'd have never appointed him."
The PM said the relationship between Mandelson and the convicted paedophile was "far different" than what he thought it was at the time of the appointment.
The information that has entered into the public domain in recent days shows that Mandelson was "not only questioning, but wanting to challenge" Epstein's conviction, which "cut across the whole approach that I've taken on violence against women and girls for many years".
Starmer explained that he did not know that when he gave his full backing to Mandelson during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, as the initial Bloomberg story was not published until Wednesday evening.
Questions were put to Mandelson, and Starmer said that when he received the answers on "Wednesday evening, late", he "did not find them at all satisfying", which is why the decision was taken to sack Mandelson.
There has been reporting that Downing Street or parts of Whitehall were made aware of the contents of the email cache given to Bloomberg on Tuesday, but Starmer insisted he did not find out the details until after PMQs on Wednesday.