{"id":76,"date":"2026-02-05T10:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online-news.uk\/?p=76"},"modified":"2026-02-05T10:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:36:45","slug":"mandelson-should-have-been-kicked-out-of-labour-in-the-autumn-says-former-starmer-aide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online-news.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/05\/mandelson-should-have-been-kicked-out-of-labour-in-the-autumn-says-former-starmer-aide\/","title":{"rendered":"Mandelson should have been kicked out of Labour in the autumn, says former Starmer aide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"901\" height=\"513\" src=\"https:\/\/online-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c98b5c5b-63f9-4fcd-9e20-5cce2b9d6a22.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77\" srcset=\"https:\/\/online-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c98b5c5b-63f9-4fcd-9e20-5cce2b9d6a22.png 901w, https:\/\/online-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c98b5c5b-63f9-4fcd-9e20-5cce2b9d6a22-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/online-news.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c98b5c5b-63f9-4fcd-9e20-5cce2b9d6a22-768x437.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 901px) 100vw, 901px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Mandelson should have been kicked out of the Labour party in the Autumn at the same time he was sacked as UK ambassador to the US, a former senior aide to Sir Keir Starmer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>James Lyons, who until September was director of strategic communications at Downing Street, tells Sky News that &#8220;it was a mistake to allow him to remain in the Labour Party back in the autumn&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think it would be much better to take action then to remove him, rather than let him resign this week,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lyons left Downing Street in September, shortly before Lord Mandelson was sacked when details about the closeness of his relationship to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein emerged.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lord Mandelson resigned his membership of the Labour party on Sunday evening after Epstein file releases appeared to show a $75,000 payment from Epstein to Lord Mandelson for his husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lyons tells&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/mornings-with-ridge-and-frost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mornings with Ridge and Frost<\/a>:&nbsp;&#8220;I&#8217;m not claiming that this has been perfectly handled. Nothing ever is. But a lot of people are being wise after the fact.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He points out that while Lord Mandelson was considered risky when he was appointed, the depth of his association with Epstein wasn&#8217;t known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think people knew that this was a high risk, high reward strategy, but I don&#8217;t think anyone knew quite how risky it was,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter Mandelson should have been kicked out of the Labour party in the Autumn at the same time he was sacked as UK ambassador to the US, a former senior aide to Sir Keir Starmer says. James Lyons, who until September was director of strategic communications at Downing Street, tells Sky News that &#8220;it was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeffrey-epstein","category-mandelson-files","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mandelson should have been kicked out of Labour in the autumn, says former Starmer aide - online-news.uk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/online-news.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/05\/mandelson-should-have-been-kicked-out-of-labour-in-the-autumn-says-former-starmer-aide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mandelson should have been kicked out of Labour in the autumn, says former Starmer aide - online-news.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Mandelson should have been kicked out of the Labour party in the Autumn at the same time he was sacked as UK ambassador to the US, a former senior aide to Sir Keir Starmer says. 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