Angry Stephen Flynn lays into Starmer on Mandelson and Herzog

Labour had a catastrophic first week  back after the summer recess, and yet somehow this second week has gone even worse. Week One ended with Angela Rayner resigning; this week Keir Starmer just sacked Peter Mandelson, and it’s not even Friday yet. One person who’s fed up with Labour’s antics is the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, and he hasn’t held back from laying into them:

Stephen Flynn absolutely hammers Keir Starmer for hosting the Israeli President while Israel openly commits war crimes in Gaza.

Starmer says opposition to his approach is student politics. #PMQs pic.twitter.com/lkv0bTEla1

— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) September 10, 2025

Stephen Flynn on Herzog

On Thursday 10 September, Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited the UK. The Canary noted of his visit:

Herzog has been one of the architects of the genocide in Gaza. Israel has now killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including at least 20,000 children. The violent settler colonial state has maimed and traumatised many hundreds of thousands more. The decision of the Labour Party government to allow an official visit has caused outrage and revulsion amongst supporters of Palestine.

On 10 September, SNP leader Stephen Flynn put the following to Keir Starmer in parliament:

Gaza is a graveyard, but rather than end arms sales, extend sanctions, and stand by international law, the prime minister will today welcome into his home – a home entrusted to him by the people of these isles – the man who called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and who signed the artillery shells that destroyed their homes, their families, and their friends. A man who will ignore every word the prime minister says.

Would he invite Vladimir Putin into Number 10? Would he invite Benjamin Netanyahu into Number 10? What does it say of this prime minister, that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?

Starmer provided his usual waffle on the topic (we describe it as ‘waffle’ because the words don’t line up with his government’s actions). The standout moment was when Starmer finished by saying he wouldn’t give up on diplomacy, because doing so ‘is the politics of students’. We all know this line killed in the 1980s, but we’re a bit more advanced than that now, as people pointed out:

Dear @Keir_Starmer

1 You are an embarrassment.

2 If telling the truth is “student politics” we need more of it.

3 We need #ScottishIndependence so we can leave you, the tories & the poisonous reform lot once and for all. pic.twitter.com/w4bjvKSPYb

— Shirley Sharpe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ScottishIndependence (@SharpeShirley) September 10, 2025

Was it “student politics” when so many Labour Students spent their free time campaigning for Starmer and other Labour MPs at the last General Election?

It’s frankly insulting that we’re treated as part of the Party when campaigning but like outsiders when we speak up. https://t.co/fAoUPGpWHi

— Amelia Tamblyn🌹 (@atamblyn04) September 10, 2025

Starmer says it’s the ‘politics of students’ not to talk to people you disagree with.
Those of us with long memories will recall that the exact opposite was the case when Corbyn talked to Hamas: that was ‘antisemitism’.
But that was entirely different, of course…#ItWasAScam

— simon maginn (@simonmaginn) September 10, 2025

We should point out we’re not saying Starmer should give up on diplomacy; we’re saying he never tried it in the first place.

Seriously, if there’s any evidence that he’s done anything other than follow America and Israel’s lead on this genocide, we’re yet to see it. And when we say ‘done anything’, we don’t mean ‘tweeted’ or ‘waggled his finger’ – we mean something concrete that didn’t later get exposed as complete horseshit.

Mandelson

On 11 September, a second scandal hit this Labour government, and it led to Keir Starmer sacking Peter Mandelson. We’ve extensively covered Mandelson and his links to Jeffry Epstein, and so have many other people. Strange, then, that Starmer didn’t pick up on this unsavoury connection sooner.

Things came to a head this week because a new cache of sordid details hit the news. As we reported:

First, a US House committee released a “trove of documents” which included a letter from Mandelson to his “best pal” Jeffry Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Also this week, it was revealed that then-business secretary Mandelson attempted to involve Epstein in a deal to sell a nationalised UK business to a US bank. Next, Mandelson gave an interview in which he awkwardly failed to justify continuing his friendship with the then-convicted Epstein.

Mandelson predicted there’d be more ’embarrassment’ to come, and in a humiliating twist, even more dirt came out after Starmer gave Mandelson his support. This included emails in which the now-sacked ambassador advised Epstein on his sexual abuse case:

One person who wants more answers is Stephen Flynn, who once again gave Labour both barrels in the houses of parliament. Addressing Labour MP Stephen Doughty, Flynn said:

I do not know what it is about the decades of scandals and being best friends with a notorious child trafficker and paedophile, which should have rung some alarm bells in No. 10, before this decision was taken. If I listened correctly, the Minister did not confirm to the Father of the House that all relevant materials will be published. Did the Prime Minister know about these emails prior to standing up at the Dispatch Box just yesterday to say he had confidence in Mr Mandelson, and does he retain the Labour Whip in the House of Lords?

Doughty responded:

What I can commit to is that we will keep the House updated on these matters. A decisive decision has been made. As I have made very clear, all candidates are subject to routine, extensive vetting and background checks as a matter of course. The Prime Minister, in the light of the additional information, has asked the Foreign Secretary to withdraw Lord Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. In particular, the emails show that the depth and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was materially different from that known at the time of his appointment. But I agree, of course, with the right hon. Gentleman on the appalling crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein, and the thoughts of all of us are with his victims, as they are every day.

This doesn’t shine a flattering light on Labour’s vetting procedures. And to be clear, as bad as the recent leaks have been, there’s nothing in them which is worse than what we already knew: that Mandelson continued his friendship with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.

Starmer will struggle to provide a good answer to this, because – let’s face it – there isn’t one.

Featured image via The National