Enda Brady: Latest Mandelson revelations put Starmer's judgment in question

Fresh Epstein allegations expose arrogance, judgement failures and the risks Keir Starmer took by resurrecting Labour’s most controversial fixer

Peter Mandelson (pictured), the former business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government, must have thought he had escaped relatively unscathed from the whirlwind of sleaze generated by the Epstein files. File photo

Just what was it that attracted you to the billionaire Mr Epstein? Everyone remembers the laughter that greeted the one-liner Mrs Merton famously used when chatting to Debbie McGee about her husband, the millionaire magician Paul Daniels.

The problem for Peter Mandelson this week is that nobody is laughing in Downing Street and the Metropolitan police are circling amid allegations of misconduct in a public office. The British political establishment is aghast and in shock. Rocked, even.