ZIA YUSUF RIPS KEIR MERMER APART on BBC qt Over Mandelson Scandal | Politics | News News | EUROtoday

Zia Yusuf has ripped into Sir Keir Starmer by branding him a “disgrace to his office”.

Reform UK’s head of coverage known as on the Prime Minister to resign over his botched dealing with of Lord Mandelson’s hyperlinks to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Appearing on the BBC’s Question Time, Mr Yusuf mentioned: “Keir Starmer, in Parliament, admitted that he knew that Peter Mandelson continued his disgusting friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein had become a convicted paedophile.”

He added: “Keir Starmer chose to ignore the advice of security services and make this man Britain’s ambassador to the United States.

“Yes, for certain, Peter Mandelson nearly definitely deserves to be in jail, however the buck stops with the chief. Keir Starmer is a shame to his workplace and may resign.”

The Prime Minister survived another bruising day of leadership speculation on Thursday evening after giving a speech apologising to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for believing the peer’s “lies” about his relationship with the paedophile financier.

Many MPs have voiced a lack of confidence in the Prime Minister’s No 10 team and pointed to Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who they blame for his ally Lord Mandelson’s appointment last year as the UK’s ambassador to the US.

Presenter Fiona Bruce told the programme that “the BBC understands that Peter Mandelson’s place is that he has not acted in any means criminally and that he was not motivated by monetary acquire”.

Emails launched by the US Department of Justice seem to indicate Lord Mandelson forwarded doubtlessly delicate info to Epstein when he was enterprise secretary below former prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009.

Detectives are set to interview Lord Mandelson and request entry to his gadgets, in addition to take witness statements from senior Labour Party figures, together with Mr Brown and senior civil servants from across the time the emails have been despatched.