Tony Benn warned me about Mandelson 40 years ago – this scandal is what happens when a government abandons its moral compass

Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t convicted last week or last year, but 18 years ago, writes Jeremy Corbyn. Parliament needs to look itself in the mirror and ask itself how it has become embroiled in a ghastly web based on lies, corruption and patronage

Tony Benn warned me about Peter Mandelson back in 1987. Two years earlier, Labour leader Neil Kinnock had appointed him as the party’s director of communications. Tony and I would talk about Peter, and discuss our mutual distrust of a man who revelled in his nickname, “Prince of Darkness”. Tony would later write it up in his diary, having heard Mandelson speak in a meeting of the NEC and the shadow cabinet: “I find Mandelson a threatening figure for the future of the Party.”

Tony was right. It appeared to me that Mandelson’s purpose was to divert Labour from its basic mission to redistribute wealth and power. Mandelson was very clever. Equipped with an acute understanding of the mores and methods of the labour movement, Mandelson was able to exploit the image of his grandfather, Herbert Morrison, a municipalist who believed in public intervention – and who organised the election campaign that led to Labour’s postwar victory in 1945.

This has been a seminal week in politics. We have known about some of Jeffrey Epstein’s vile crimes for at least 18 years, but we are now beginning to see the unravelling of his labyrinthine net – and the ensnaring of members of the British elite, including Mandelson. Epstein was not convicted last week. He was not convicted last year. He was first convicted 18 years ago. Despite this, he managed not only to return to a gilded circle but grow that circle exponentially, with the promise of wealth, power, and impunity. Epstein’s status was self-fulfilling. The more connections he had, the more connections he could make. All of them were built on the enduring trauma of victims and survivors of abominable violence and abuse.

Epstein was not convicted last week. He was not convicted last year. He was first convicted 18 years ago. Despite this, he managed not only to return to a gilded circle but grow that circle exponentially, with the promise of wealth, power, and impunity (US Department of Justice)

Epstein always used his power to ask for more. As far as I can tell, Mandelson used the same tactic – and brought people into his vision of a Labour Party that put the interests of business first. Schools and hospitals lumped with PFI debts are still, now, paying the price. I know corporate capture when I see it, which is just one of the reasons why, when I was Labour leader, Mandelson had no role, no influence, and no part to play whatsoever.

I cannot believe that when Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson as the ambassador to Washington, he would not have been made fully aware of his record in its entirety. Surely the prime minister would have known about the number of times that Mandelson was forced to resign because of his behaviour. Surely he would have known about his record as an EU commissioner. And surely he would have known about his well-recorded relationship with the convicted paedophile, Epstein. What a shameful, appalling appointment for the prime minister to make.

Many are viewing the scandal through the narrow lens of whether Starmer should stay or go. This misses the point: most of those who are lined up to replace him are likely to carry forward the abject political legacy he leaves behind. That includes the failure to redress the obscene levels of inequality in our society; the disgraceful attacks on the disabled; the disgusting anti-migrant hatred that is paving the path to Reform; and the ongoing military cooperation with Israel as it violates the sham ceasefire and continues its genocide against the Palestinian people.

Getting rid of Starmer means nothing unless we also get rid of his government’s healthcare and defence contracts with Palantir, the US company that provides military technology to Israel and AI-powered deportation targeting for Trump’s ICE units. That contract was secured by the lobbying group Global Counsel, co-founded and part-owned by Mandelson himself.

This scandal is bigger than Mandelson and his mendacious influence. It is bigger even than Epstein. It is about an entire network of impunity that has shielded itself from accountability. That’s why I called for an independent public inquiry. It cannot be run by the same political establishment that is ensnared in the gilded web it is tasked with investigating. Parliament needs to look itself in the mirror and ask itself how it has become embroiled in a ghastly web based on lies, corruption and patronage.

Democracy does not corrupt itself. Democracy is corrupted by those who do not want to play by its rules. It is no coincidence that the web that pursues wealth, status and power at all costs is the web that commits heinous crimes with impunity. This web dictates the rules of the game. That is how millions of people live in desperate poverty, while the rich and powerful commit heinous crimes with impunity. We live in a rotten political system that rewards dishonesty, abuse and greed. It is one big club – and you’re not in it. Real justice would be the creation of a real democracy – one that guarantees the safety, empowerment and dignity of us all.

The Mandelson scandal is shocking, but it is not a surprise. This is what happens when a government abandons its moral compass and replaces principle with patronage. This is what happens when you let mendacious people like Mandelson fill in the definition of your empty pragmatism. This is what happens when you don’t listen to Tony Benn.

Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. He is the independent MP for Islington North, which he has represented since 1983