Miserable Labour MPs stayed away from a Commons debate on the Lord Mandelson scandal today as Keir Starmer's problems deepened.
The government benches were far sparser than those reserved for the Opposition as a three-hour 'emergency' debate kicked off.
And there was no sign of Sir Keir himself, with the PM accused of 'hiding' as he remained in No10 despite mounting demands for him to provide detailed answers on the sacking of the US ambassador.
Less than 90 minutes into the debate Labour ran out of speakers wishing to take part, leaving it to opposition parties to criticise and ask questions about the appointment.
The premier finally broke cover yesterday to give his first account of what happened. He acknowledged that he knew officials were looking into fresh emails between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein when he voiced 'confidence' in the New Labour architect at PMQs last week.
