Mandelson scandal shortens odds on Starmer following him out the door

The appointment of the ex-ambassador despite his lurid past raises potentially fatal doubts about the judgment of the PM and his team

In many political scandals there is an agreed full stop, a time for the circus to move on: maybe a resignation, certainly a police investigation. But for Downing Street, Peter Mandelson risks being a headache that simply won’t end.

Mandelson’s future in public life is now definitively over, or as definitive as you can be for a figure who, much as with the Conservative saying about Boris Johnson, would possibly need to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through his heart before you could completely rule out another comeback.