Starmer attacked for seeking counsel from Labour's ‘prince of darkness’ Lord Mandelson

Keir Starmer - TOLGA AKMEN/AFP
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Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to publicly renounce Lord Mandelson, as trade union leaders hit out at the growing influence of the "prince of darkness'' over the Labour Party.

Despite efforts to draw a line under the bitter infighting sparked by his frontbench reshuffle, Sir Keir risked being dragged into a new confrontation on Monday over the role of the Labour grandee, who is said to be providing political counsel to him.

Lord Mandelson, who rose to prominence as Tony Blair’s "fixer" during the New Labour era, has been increasingly active in recent weeks and has used a number of media interviews to blame Labour’s electoral woes on Jeremy Corbyn and the hard-Left.

Following the loss of his former seat in the Hartlepool by-election, Lord Mandelson on Sunday also called for Labour to rid itself of the influence of "hard left factions” in the trade union movement.

The comments have provoked a major backlash among left-wing MPs and union leaders, who yesterday wrote to the Labour leader to demand he distance himself from the remarks.

John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, said: "Unless Keir Starmer curtails Mandelson’s influence there will be more division."

It came as Sir Keir attempted to move on from the fallout over the weekend by praising his deputy leader Angela Rayner at the first meeting of his new-look shadow cabinet.

The Labour leader opened the meeting at noon by insisting that Ms Rayner, now Michael Gove’s opposite number, would help Labour reconnect with its traditional base and combat Boris Johnson’s populism.

He repeated that the responsibility for the local elections drubbing was "entirely on me", adding that he intended to spend the summer speaking to non-Labour voters rather than speaking to rallies of supporters.

However, he came under renewed attack from several left-wing MPs, who accused him of trying to demote Ms Rayner in an attempt to brush over criticism of Baroness Chapman, his senior political adviser.

While Ms Rayner has now emerged from the power struggle with a more senior role, a number of moderate and Left-wing figures have questioned why frontbenchers were sacked while senior staff in his office were left in post.

In particular, Baroness Chapman has been repeatedly criticised in recent days over her role in the Hartlepool by-election, having been accused of "stitching up" the candidacy for Dr Paul Williams, a former colleague and Remain MP.

"Any rational observer can see what happened and what could be improved," one shadow cabinet insider said last night.

On Monday night it was also reported that at the height of the row on Sunday over Ms Rayner's future, Sir Keir had been warned by her allies that she could move to topple him unless he gave her an enhanced position. According to The Times, one supporter said: "There were a lot of people encouraging her to run and saying they would back her."

Others hit out at his decision to replace Anneliese Dodds as shadow chancellor with Rachel Reeves, while also appointing Alan Campbell as chief whip, who they believe will act as an "enforcer" to cement the power of Labour moderates.

Ms Reeves, who is a close ally of Sir Keir, previously earned the enmity of the Left during her time serving as Ed Miliband’s shadow work and pensions secretary, during which she notoriously claimed that Labour would be "tougher than the Tories on benefits".

Last night a shadow cabinet source said of her promotion: "Rachel has said some things previously which have really disgruntled the Left. At a different time it would be seen as a fight they would want to pick."

In a letter sent to Sir Keir yesterday, Mick Whelan, the head of the Labour Unions group and general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, said of Lord Mandelson’s comments: "These have caused considerable concern and anger.

"The path to unity does not lie through any moves to reduce the union link, and the path to winning the country cannot lie through the party distancing itself from the collective voice of millions of working people.

"I would ask that you say something publicly, in short order, to make it clear that you reject these comments, and that there will be no attempts to break, or water down, the union link."

Later, in private Whatsapp exchanges leaked to The Telegraph, a member of Sir Keir’s office privately assured trade union figures that Lord Mandelson "categorically" did not speak for him.

But when pressed repeatedly to release a public statement, the official said the Labour leader’s focus was on the "Queen’s Speech response and moving forward with the new shadow cabinet".