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 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, who was sacked from his role as the UK's ambassador to the US in September, 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.
