He can apologise as much as he wants but it doesn’t alter the fact that appointing Mandelson was an inexplicably stupid and indefensible thing to do. He can’t evade the consequences of his decision with a few words or by whining about not being told by the security services (which I don’t believe anyway, he must have been told).
His admission in Parliament that he went ahead and appointed Mandelson despite knowing he had still been on friendly terms with Epstein even after his conviction finishes him. There is no coming back.
My guess is he will limp on to the by-election at the end of the month, which Labour looks set to lose (as big as 17/2 with the bookmakers to hold a seat which has been Labour for years). By then, I expect the mood of Labour MPs to be mutinous, especially as he will be open to accusations of ensuring Labour lost the seat by blocking Burnham. And if Labour loses the seat to Reform, I think he will be ousted the next day.
It is not as if Mandelson didn’t have form:
