Downing Street was on Sunday night scrambling to protect Keir Starmer as it emerged No 10 was aware of the fatal allegation against Lord Mandelson days before he was sacked.
The Daily Mail understands that No 10 knew at the start of last week that the Labour grandee had suggested paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged.
But sources insisted that the Prime Minister was not informed before he expressed confidence in the then-US ambassador in the Commons on Wednesday.
It came amid a deepening revolt over Sir Keir’s handling of the crisis, and growing speculation that the PM could be ousted before the next general election.
Mutinous MPs yesterday warned that Sir Keir was ‘supping in the last-chance saloon’, while the Tories accused him of going ‘missing in action’ over the scandal.
