Britain’s ambassador to Washington has been recorded saying Sir Keir Starmer was “on the ropes” over the Peter Mandelson affair and suggested Labour could “remove” him after next month’s local elections, according to reports.
The leaked recording, obtained by the Financial Times, appears to show Sir Christian Turner, who replaced Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador after the latter was sacked over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, making highly outspoken comments for a career diplomat. The recording was made in mid-February during a Q&A session with UK students visiting Washington, shortly after Sir Christian took up his role.
Comments on the Epstein scandal
In the recording, Sir Christian said it was “extraordinary” that the Epstein scandal had “brought down a senior member of the royal family [Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor], a British ambassador to Washington, potentially the prime minister, and yet here in the US, it really hasn’t touched anybody.” He described it as an “interesting question” about “different levels of accountability in our systems.”
Starmer’s future
Speaking about Lord Mandelson, Sir Christian said the affair was a “crisis” that “has nearly brought down the government and ended the prime minister’s tenure.” He added: “At one stage, he was pretty clearly on the ropes.” The PM’s future looked “quite touch and go,” he said. While Labour’s rules set a high bar to remove a sitting prime minister, reaching that bar was “still quite difficult,” and Starmer was “a stubborn guy” unlikely to quit. However, Sir Christian noted: “The moment I would look to is the May elections. If Labour does very badly… I suspect the party will be able to go over that threshold and remove him – seems to me to be the conventional thinking.” He added: “If they do OK, he might carry on going… That’s just for me as a citizen speculating because I have to serve whomever is there.”
Special relationship questioned
Sir Christian also criticised the phrase “special relationship” between the UK and US, calling it “quite nostalgic, quite backwards-looking, and it has a lot of baggage.” He said: “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States – and that is probably Israel.” His comments came in the weeks before US-Israeli strikes on Iran. However, he acknowledged the UK-US link was “so strong” and said: “There is a deep history and affinity between us. Particularly on defence and security, we are intertwined.” But he stressed: “The relationship will carry on, if you want, being ‘special’, but I think it’s going to have to be different.”
Reaction and context
The recording was released as King Charles visits the US. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “These were private, informal comments made to a group of UK sixth-form students visiting the US in early February. They are certainly not any reflection of the UK government’s position.” The Tories and other opposition parties have accused Starmer of misleading Parliament over the vetting process for Mandelson’s appointment.
