The damaging revelations contained in the latest tranche of the Mandelson files further strengthen Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s claim to the Labour leadership, MPs have claimed.
It comes as the Greater Manchester Mayor said the document dump showed that a culture change in the heart of Westminster “can’t come soon enough”, in what will be viewed by his supporters as another direct threat to Sir Keir Starmer.
Thousands of documents released by the Cabinet Office on Monday laid bare how deeply ingrained the disgraced peer was with the Labour Government before he was forced to resign over his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. They also suggest that several ministers had begun to lose faith in Starmer’s leadership almost a year ago.
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Burnham, who is fighting a by-election in a bid to stage a return to Westminster and challenge the Prime Minister, said the revelations will “further damage people’s confidence in our political system”.
