Early Line readers' Starmer verdict

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🍸 Should Keir Starmer resign over the Mandelson scandal? That’s the question I posed to Early Line readers yesterday, and the answer was quite clear among hundreds of responses. No, he shouldn’t.

Should Prime Minister Keir Starmer resign over the Mandelson scandal?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes (32%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No (68%)

Your comments were even more interesting.

Keir, should he be reading, should not take this straw poll as an enormous vote of confidence, even from an audience as intelligent and influential as The Early Line’s.

Many of you were concerned by what might replace him, which puts you off calling for his head. “Whoever replaces him will be just as bad... if not worse,” offers one reader, speaking for many. “Who else is there?!” echoes another.

But there’s also a strong sense that this is all Westminster theatre. “Too much time is being spent on the issue in parliament,” says one. “The party or voters will decide his future.”

Another writes: “I don't think Starmer has come out of this looking good, and there are clearly problems with the process (being rushed through without vetting completed, Starmer not being 'told', or at least officially), but I don't want the instability of another leader - I just want them to get on with the job.”

One subscriber points to the broader political mess around the time of the appointment: “Time and place,” they say. “Kim Darroch had just offended the new US administration by pointing out Trump was a nutcase. Mandelson was a pal of Trump and the UK wanted to get on the right side of the new administration. He was an obvious choice.

“And anyway, the whole top level of business and politics is steeped in Epstein's more. You can't have a party with a bunch of ‘hostesses’ and a single prince. There's a lot of powerful people sweating out there.”

Which is an intriguing thought.

Of those who backed Starmer going, there was one very common theme among nearly all the written responses: “One poor decision after another. I have no confidence in his leadership,” as one reader put it.

Another was more biting: “He is an amoral clown. Out of touch with almost everyone. Scotland can’t get a referendum but they’re in a voluntary union. We’ll help you through the fuel crisis but no we can’t because we’re making £20m a week out of the extra VAT. Everyone knew about sneaky Mandelson except the PM, which shows he is divorced from the Labour Party - or he knew all along!”

Maybe we’ll never know. But the Early Line verdict is unequivocal.

(And thanks to the reader who suggested the poll in the first place. Such suggestions are always very welcome - just hit reply).

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