Peter Mandelson has finally been removed from his post as Ambassador to the United States. In a revelation that is surprising to no one outside of the government and the commentariat, appointing a man nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness,” who was best friends with the world’s most famous paedophile, to the most important diplomatic role we have was a blunder. Mandelson now has the rare award of being embroiled in scandals over three different decades.
Something quite disturbing about this whole ordeal is how long Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has been public knowledge, and how it is only recently that the press has decided to scrutinise the government for this relationship. The BBC did not even bother to mention Epstein once in their article about his appointment. This, in my opinion, is partially due to the close relationship between many in the commentariat and politics, perfectly illustrated by Sky News’ bizarre decision to have Trevor Phillips grill members of the government over Keir Starmer’s appointment of Mandelson as ambassador–a man Phillips appointed as his own best man!
The whole episode is completely maddening from beginning to end. From how a man like Mandelson was able to rise to such power and prominence despite his many scandals, to why he was seen as desirable for the job, and why the press was asleep at the wheel for so long. This is a situation that could only have happened due to sheer incompetence at every possible level.
“File:Peter Mandelson – WEF.jpg” by World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
