Starmer Mocked Over Speech Calling For 'Decency' In Public Life Amid Mandelson Revelations

Keir Starmer will call for decency in public life a day after admitting he made Peter Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to Washington despite knowing about his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In a major speech on Thursday, the prime minister will say that the people of Britain are “bound by values, by common endeavour and by responsibilities we owe to one another as partners in the project of this great nation”.

“I believe in our way of doing things – that in a world that increasingly preys on weakness, I believe Britain is stronger as a tolerant, decent and respectful country,” Starmer will say.

The speech, in which the PM will hail the government’s £5 billion “Pride in Place” project to rejuvenate deprived communities, comes as he fights for his political survival over the Mandelson scandal.

Labour MPs reacted in fury on Wednesday when Starmer admitted for the first time that he had know about the former peer’s links to Epstein but still made him US ambassador last year.

One told HuffPost UK: “It was like being present at the political death of the prime minister.”

In his speech, the prime minister will say: “I love this country. It is the greatest country in the world.

“The progress and prosperity I’ve seen throughout my life, the journey I’ve been on, personally from a working class background to this, I owe everything to this country and its values. I’ve spent most of my professional life serving them.

“Because I believe in them. I believe in our values. I believe in rules that protect those in need. I believe in the freedom to live and let live in decency and tolerance, in respect for difference under the same flag, a common good.”

He will add: “We are bound by values, by common endeavour and by responsibilities we owe to one another as partners in the project of this great nation.

“I believe in our way of doing things. That in a world that increasingly preys on weakness, I believe Britain is stronger as a tolerant, decent and respectful country.”

But a Conservative spokesperson said: “It’s hard to overstate the absurdity of Keir Starmer making a speech about values and decency the day after he admitted appointing an ambassador who had remained friends with a convicted paedophile.

“The prime minister’s authority is shot. He no longer speaks for the Labour Party, let alone the country.”

A senior Labour source said: “Have they tried burning No.10 down and starting again?”