debates/debates2025-09-10e conversation_9
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-09-10e conversation_9

Melanie Ward:After almost two decades of the SNP— \p Stephen Flynn: Hear, hear! Ten more to come! \p Lindsay Hoyle: Order. If the right hon. Gentleman carries on, there won’t be 10 more decades of the SNP in this Chamber. \p Melanie Ward: Thank you, Mr Speaker. After almost two decades of the SNP and 14 years of the Tories, Kirkcaldy High Street has been in a state of decline. That is why the Chancellor was right to prioritise Kirkcaldy for multimillion-pound regeneration funding from the new growth mission fund, to build on the enormous potential of our town and its beautiful sea front. Does the Prime Minister agree that investment over decline is key for this Labour Government, and will he ask the new Business Secretary to meet me to discuss the funding? \p Keir Starmer: My hon. Friend has been a tireless campaigner for investment in her high street. I can give her good news: thanks to funding committed by the Chancellor and this Labour Government, I can confirm today that subject to business case approval, we will approve millions to transform Kirkaldy’s high street and sea front. I will make sure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting she wants with the Business Secretary. The SNP has squandered the potential of high streets for two decades. Next year, people can vote for positive change with a Scottish Labour Government. \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the Leader of the Opposition. \p Kemi Badenoch: I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s comments about the Duchess of Kent; she lived an exemplary life of public service, and will be very much missed. I agree with the Prime Minister, as all of us in this House should: we stand shoulder to shoulder with Poland and all our NATO allies against Putin’s aggression. A NATO country has just had to defend itself against Russian drones. Now more than ever, we need our ambassador to Washington fully focused on this issue, and liaising closely with America. Does the Prime Minister have full confidence in Peter Mandelson? \p Keir Starmer: Let me start by saying that the victims of Epstein are at the forefront of our minds. He was a despicable criminal who committed the most heinous crimes and destroyed the lives of so many women and girls. The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with Epstein, and he is right to do so. I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship. \p Kemi Badenoch: This is interesting. The Prime Minister says that the ambassador has expressed full regret, but the victims of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have called for Lord Mandelson to be sacked. Just so the House is aware, in 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of child prostitution and sex trafficking, which took place between 2002 and 2005. That is the precise period when Lord Mandelson called Jeffrey Epstein his “best pal”. Was the Prime Minister aware of this intimate relationship when he appointed Lord Mandelson to be our ambassador in Washington? \p Keir Starmer: As the right hon. Lady and the House would expect, full due process was followed during this appointment, as it is with all ambassadors. The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret, and he is right to do so. He is now playing an important part in the US-UK relationship. \p Kemi Badenoch: I asked the Prime Minister if he knew about the relationship. The fact that he did not answer indicates that he probably did know. I was not asking a question about process; I was asking a question about  his judgment. The Daily Telegraph reported today that while Lord Mandelson was Business Secretary, he brokered a deal with Jeffrey Epstein, and that this occurred after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences. Given this new information, does the Prime Minister really think that it is tenable for our ambassador to remain in post? \p Keir Starmer: The relationship between the US and the UK is one of our foremost relationships, and I have confidence in the ambassador in the role he is doing. \p Kemi Badenoch: I think it is embarrassing that the Prime Minister is still saying that he has confidence in a man who was brokering deals with convicted child sex offenders while sitting in Government. That is a disgrace. This Government have repeatedly refused to declare Lord Mandelson’s full interests. As part of the appointment, there will have been extensive Government vetting, covering details and timings of Peter Mandelson’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. Will the Prime Minister publish all the documents, including those about Lord Mandelson’s interests? \p Keir Starmer: As I say, full due process was gone through in relation to this appointment, as would be expected. As the right hon. Lady well knows, the publication of documents is subject to a procedure that includes an independent element. This would have been subject to the usual procedure. \p Kemi Badenoch: The Prime Minister cannot answer any questions. That is not the behaviour of someone who has full confidence. The ambassador should be in the White House, talking about how we respond to an incursion into NATO airspace; instead, he is giving interviews about himself to The Sun. This is a man who has already had to be removed from Cabinet twice, and now we learn that he was brokering billion-pound deals with Jeffrey Epstein while he was Business Secretary.

I did not get a proper answer. The Prime Minister is talking about process, but this is not about process; this is about judgment. Just last week, I told him that he should sack his Deputy Prime Minister. Labour Members were all cheering and congratulating themselves, but she was gone two days later. His phase 2 is broken, and he has a wholly new Front-Bench team. I will ask him again: will he ensure that these documents are published? Will he actually instruct Peter Mandelson to publish all his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein? \p Keir Starmer: The Leader of the Opposition says that the ambassador should be in the White House, discussing NATO; he is. We all are discussing that—we did so through a number of international calls this morning—as well as Ukraine and the attack in Doha yesterday. I see that she is finally catching up with the questions that she should have asked last week about the Deputy Prime Minister. In the meantime, we have opened up a new school-based nursery; on Monday, we had the defence industrial strategy; and on Tuesday, we published NHS league tables to push up standards. We reopened Doncaster Sheffield airport yesterday, and today we have set out how we are repairing the concrete in our hospitals. \p Kemi Badenoch: A load of waffle and whataboutery. All Labour Members are interested in right now is their pointless deputy leadership election, while the country out there is suffering from an economic crisis. The Prime Minister has an ambassador mired in scandal, not focusing on NATO. He lost his Deputy Prime Minister just last week for evading taxes. He has a new Home Secretary and a new Foreign Secretary who are just learning the ropes and not able to help with this issue. We have strikes crippling our capital city and damaging our economy. He could use the minimum service legislation that the Conservatives introduced to make the lives of the people out there better, but he will not, because he does not have the backbone to face down the unions. The unions are running the Government; all the deputy leadership candidates are chasing after them. With this Government, it is more strikes, more scandal and more chaos. Is not the link between all this his bad decisions, his bad judgment and his total weakness? \p Keir Starmer: Our deputy leader contest started this week and ends on 25 October. The Conservatives’ leadership contest has been going on for months, and will continue for a very long time. [Interruption.] All this noise from the arsonists while we are putting out the fires that they left behind! Interest rates and waiting lists are down. Wages, investment and deportations are up. Now we are stepping up defence spending, creating new jobs, driving up standards in our NHS and rebuilding our crumbling schools and hospitals. This is a Government of patriots fighting for working people.