Keir Starmer told to 'take responsibility' and resign amid Peter Mandelson row: 'Blames everybody but himself!'

Sir James told GB News: "It was felt that Peter Mandelson's deal making history, the fact he's a schmooze, the fact he can be a charmer would work with President Trump. So the calculation was that the risk was worth the reward, and that proved to be a catastrophically bad judgment.

"And that was the Prime Minister's judgment. He's now talking about how we should be thoughtful of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein - well, he wasn't thoughtful of those victims when he appointed Peter Mandelson in the first place.

"We criticised it at the time, we criticise it still. It goes to the heart of Keir Starmer's appalling judgment and he really should go."

Sir James accused the Prime Minister of blaming "everybody but himself" following his address to MPs on Monday, where he took aim at the "staggering" operation of Foreign Office officials.

The Tory MP told GB News: "The Prime Minister keeps trying to blame other people, keeps trying to blame the system, blames everybody but himself.

"The simple fact is, when you make a political appointment, the risk sits with the politicians. This is a very well established principle."

Sir James suggested that Sir Olly Robbins was appointed with an "implicit instruction" to enable Lord Mandelson to be appointed.

He argued: "They chose to risk appointing Peter Mandelson, the fault is exclusively with them. And the simple truth is that Sir Olly was appointed after Peter Mandelson was announced as the Prime Minister's pick for ambassador.

"And I strongly suspect, I don't know this to be a fact, that he was appointed with an implicit instruction to just get it sorted.

"Mandelson had already been announced and it was his job to tidy up the loose ends. He did his job and now he's been fired, and that is totally unacceptable."

Calling on the Prime Minister to "hold himself to the same standard" that he held Boris Johnson to, Sir James declared Sir Keir "should go".

He made clear: "Of course, we think he should go. A vote of no confidence with the majority that the Labour have got is almost certainly going to fail.

"Ultimately, the Prime Minister needs to hold himself to the same standard that he held others to, and by that measure, he should resign."

Looking ahead to the emergency debate later today on the scandal, put forward by the Tories, Sir James argued that the Prime Minister "failed to answer the important questions" despite spending two-and-a-half hours at the despatch box.

Sir James told GB News: "The reason Kemi called this emergency debate after the Prime Minister's statement is because despite spending two-and-a-half hours at the despatch box, he spectacularly failed to answer the important questions that we put to him.

"So we're going to go again, and he should understand that until he is honest, until he is open, until he gives the transparency that the British people demand, we are going to keep asking these questions.

"Because it was his decision. He chose Peter Mandelson, despite Peter Mandelson's history, he overrode the advice of a number of officials.

"He shortcut the process, he is responsible and he has got to take responsibility and so far he has failed to do so."