Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the BBC the situation facing Sir Keir Starmer is “serious” and suggested he might have been “too slow to do the right things” in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal.
But, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Brown backed Sir Keir as a “man of integrity” who had been “betrayed” by Lord Mandelson, and said Starmer was the right man to “clean up the system”.
Brown’s remarks came as police concluded a search of two homes linked to Mandelson, after suggestions he passed on market-sensitive government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment. The BBC understands his position is that he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.
When asked if Sir Keir was the right man to take the country forward, Brown said: “Well, this is obviously serious. I mean, there’s always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair, it happens to everybody about how their future should be gauged.
“But this is serious and the task is very clear. We’ve got to clean up the system…and end the corruption and unethical behaviour. And if we don’t do it, we’ll pay a heavy price.”
Brown added that Sir Keir is “a man of integrity” who “wants to do the right things”.
