Kemi Badenoch: Starmer must “come clean” on how and why Mandelson was appointed
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Today [Tuesday 16th September] speaking in an emergency debate
secured by the Conservative Party, Leader of the Opposition Kemi
Badenoch spelled out three possible scenarios around the
appointment of Peter Mandelson as HM Ambassador to the United
States and called on the Prime Minister to “come clean” on who was
responsible, and release the Mandelson-Epstein Files. In her speech
in Parliament Kemi Badenoch asks: “How was it that a man with known
links to a child sex...Request free
trial
Today [Tuesday 16th September] speaking in an emergency debate secured by the Conservative Party, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch spelled out three possible scenarios around the appointment of Peter Mandelson as HM Ambassador to the United States and called on the Prime Minister to “come clean” on who was responsible, and release the Mandelson-Epstein Files. In her speech in Parliament Kemi Badenoch asks: “How was it that a man with known links to a child sex offender came to be appointed?” Badenoch then laid out the three possible scenarios:
She follows this by saying: “This will not go away. The Government cannot play for time. We will be back here again and again until all these documents are published. We will keep coming back until someone takes responsibility.” Kemi Badenoch's full speech is below: Check against delivery “Thank you Mr Speaker for granting this important emergency debate today. I congratulate my Right Honourable Friend for having secured it. On the eve of the President's state visit – we are talking about a US ambassador sacked in scandal. Today, the Prime Minister needs to come clean about what he knew and when he knew it. Today, the Prime Minister needs to publish the Mandelson-Epstein Files in full. Today, the Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the appointment of Lord Mandelson as Ambassador to Washington. But the Prime Minister is not here … Because he is hiding from Parliament. I know the Prime Minister is a busy man. But confidence in him and in his government rests on him being able to account for what has happened. So far – no one is taking responsibility We have a US ambassador… Sacked over his relationship with a man convicted of child sex offences. What's more – and this tells you everything you need to know - this was an appointment forced though by the Prime Minister and his Chief of Staff… A political ally, pushed ahead of qualified candidates, because the Prime Minister and Morgan McSweeney admired his talent for mixing with the rich and powerful… Despite his known links to a man who was a convicted paedophile and a convicted sex trafficker. It is now very clear that Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed. And it is now also clear that the Prime Minister knew there were major concerns when he came to this House last Wednesday… But instead of taking action … he expressed confidence in him. Why on Earth did he do so? Was he poorly advised? Or was it his own poor judgement? In every single one of his Government's scandals so far… Far from being the decisive man of conscience he promised to be… He has shrivelled from leadership. He has dodged responsibility. He has hidden behind others. He has come to this House and hidden behind process and lawyerly phrases … He has shown no courage, no judgement, no backbone. If he can't see it, the British public can. He has turned out to be everything he claimed to abhor. This is a government of sleaze and scandal… And Labour MPs know it. Where are they? Why are none of them here today? The British public – and the victims of Jeffrey Epstein – deserve that for once he be straight and honest with us. He must immediately do three things: First, he must apologise to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for ever having appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador – how has this still not happened? Second, he must publish the Mandelson-Epstein Files in full… All the information he had at his disposal both when he made the appointment - and when he came to the House last week. Third, he must make sure that someone takes responsibility. Everyone now agrees that Peter Mandelson should not have been appointed. So why was he? Was it a failure of vetting? Was it that advisers hid information from the Prime Minister? Or was it that the Prime Minister knew and made the decision anyway? Someone needs to take responsibility. It is simply not tenable to hold the line on this one. To bury his head in the sand and hope it goes away. We now know that the Prime Minister was aware of the compromising emails last Wednesday - and yet he came to the House and said that he had confidence in his Ambassador. Why did he do that? At any point, did he ask his staff what more information might surface? Did he receive a briefing about this ahead of PMQs? It is inconceivable that he didn't. Ministers are now claiming that new information subsequently came to light. What information appeared that was not in the original vetting? When did the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff speak with Peter Mandelson last week and what did he discuss with him? We are told that Morgan McSweeney spent hours on the phone to the Ambassador at the same time Lord Mandleson was dodging calls from the Foreign Office… Those are questions about what happened last week, but how did this all come to happen last year? What led to Lord Mandelson's appointment in the first place? How was it that a man with known links to a child sex offender came to be appointed? Because as I see it, there are only 3 possibilities: First, that it was a failure of vetting. Are we really supposed to believe that the security services are at fault. Did they not drag up the intimacy and relationship with Epsitein? The second possibility is that the Prime Minister's advisors kept information from him. That would be incredibly serious. If so, who kept it from him? And why have they not already apologised and resigned? And thirdly, most likely but most worrying of all, was it that the Prime Minister had plenty of information to suggest that Lord Mandelson should not be appointed… Even at the time, eyebrows were raised about this appointment, and there were many critics. But chose to appoint him anyway? It is time for the Prime Minister to come clean. He needs to come out of hiding. This will not go away. The Government cannot play for time We will be back here again and again until all. these documents are published. We will be back until someone takes responsibility This is a political crisis, on top of an economic crisis. All of the government's own making. This Government came into office with no plan for the country… …no idea what they stood for… And no vision for what they wanted to achieve. Because of this, they have spent a year lurching from disaster to disaster. Winter fuel, tax rises, welfare chaos. The Prime Minister's failing leadership rebooted after just one year The only plan they came into office with… A promise they made again and again to the British public. Was that they would restore “honesty and integrity” to government. That was their defining mission. Their grand plan. Well, so far – in a year - we've had… An anti-corruption ministers sacked for corruption. A homelessness minister sacked for evicting tenants. A housing secretary sacked for dodging housing tax. A transport secretary sacked for fraud. A Director of Strategy lost only yesterday in scandal. And now a US ambassador sacked for his links with a known child sex offender. I know the Prime Minister doesn't like difficult questions… But he owes it to the country to come clean.” |