If British politics were a horror movie (and the truth is it often seems like one, even Oscar-worthy), its title would be The Zombie and the Ghost . Because to the famous zombies of Night of the Living Dead we must add Keir Starmer as the resident of Downing Street (awaiting to be guillotined), and to the famous ghosts like the Phantom of the Opera, Anne Boleyn’s ghost roaming the Tower of London, the Flying Dutchman, or Abraham Lincoln’s ghost in the White House, we must now add Peter Mandelson’s.
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The publication of more than fifteen hundred WhatsApp messages, transcripts of phone conversations, and official documents related to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador in Washington has further weakened the current prime minister, whose name mysteriously does not appear anywhere as if he had no involvement in such a momentous decision, as if he had been careful not to leave a trace, or as if he were one of those ethereal beings from horror movies.
What does appear everywhere are Mandelson’s criticisms of the government that was giving him a new life after having been dismissed from two previous Labour administrations, as if “gratefulness” was not part of his nature. He comments that Starmer “lacks drive,” and “seems to always end up on plan B,” or that “Downing Street is directionless and besieged.”
Mandelson, aligned with Blair and the party’s right-wing probusiness faction, laments the lack of measures to stimulate the economy, calls for a “more Trump-like” attitude, and describes former Health Secretary Wes Streeting (one of the contenders to replace Starmer) as “hysterical” for being scandalized by what Israel is doing in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the strip. “He could use a dose of political realism,” he comments, “it’s as if his midlife crisis arrived prematurely.”
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Mandelson criticized the Labour ‘premier’ instead of being grateful for his new role after two dismissals in previous administrations
The Conservatives have expressed suspicion over the absence of references to what Starmer thought or what other Cabinet members thought of his decisions, suggesting that the publication of the documents is more censored than has been implied. It had already been warned that, for national security reasons and to avoid further complicating the delicate relationship with the United States, no comments from government members or officials about their views on Trump would be made public.
The White House press officials responded to the tories’ suspicions with sarcasm, saying the prime minister does not spend his day in front of the computer, tablet, or mobile commenting on his decisions. In any case, it is curious, given the level of controversy surrounding Mandelson’s appointment and the security services’ recommendation against it, that Starmer never made official inquiries about the case that would leave a documentary trail potentially used against him.
In fact, the papers published yesterday indicate that warnings about Mandelson’s ties to China, Russia, and the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein fell on deaf ears, and the Foreign Office took no action before greenlighting his appointment as ambassador to Donald Trump’s court, whom he admired. But the president, who is not shy in his comments, made it clear instead that he wanted nothing to do with him.
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