Epstein, Mandelson and the rise of Farage

The scandal that brought down Peter Mandelson describes a world that is driving voters into the arms of populism

“I do not want to live by salary alone”. Peter Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein.

They are all in it together; and all for themselves. Gilded plutocrats have scooped up the riches flowing from open frontiers and technological innovation. The political establishment has been in their silk-lined pocket every step of the way. What unites them is the assumption of impunity. Rules are for little people. Didn’t a politician by the name of Peter Mandelson once remark that Tony Blair’s government was “perfectly relaxed about people getting filthy rich”?

Once in a while we are given a jolting reminder as to why the message of far right populists has made such headway. The avalanche of scandal and sleaze that has swept away Mandelson, an architect of Blair’s centrist New Labour and latterly Keir Starmer’s ambassador to Washington, could not have been be more vivid in its expression. Everything about the collusion of political chums in Jeffrey Epstein’s vile trafficking of young women for the gratification of rich men tells us why extremists are tapping into a well of public outrage.

For the avoidance of doubt, to observe that the likes of Nigel Farage strike a chord is not to suggest they have answers. The currency of Farage and his ilk is prejudice, anger and mendacity. To my mind, the Reform leader’s own character has been self-described by his teenage habit of hurling gas chamber taunts at Jewish classmates. If the chosen enemy are the “elites”, the favoured scapegoats are Muslims, Jews and just plain “immigrants”. The populists have nothing to sell but poisonous snake oil.

Even as Farage denounces the “great betrayal” of the people by the political class, a glance at the register of the outside financial interests of MPs in the House of Commons shows none has been more assiduous in monetising his political position for personal pecuniary gain. Farage lives on handouts from the fat cats he condemns.. Attendance at Westminster is a loss-leader.

Who cares?. Such is the public anger with the ancien regime that a substantial slice of the electorate is ready to overlook such rank hypocrisy. Anyway, they are all crooks, you hear people say. And Farage has identified grievances that reach well beyond the ugly nativism of its core supporters.

Reform’s mantra is that Britain is broken. You can see why it has resonance. The postwar settlement that saw power alternate between mainstream Conservatives and Labour rested on a model for the economy that generated progressively higher living standards and improving public services. The system was never entirely fair, let alone equal. But for most it offered some prospect of progress, above all for their children.

This social contract, under stress since the march of global liberalisation during the 1980s, was to all intents and purposes shattered by the 2008 financial crash and the austerity policies of David Cameron’s Conservative-led coalition. The postwar decades that had seen annual incomes rising by an average two per centr gave way to economic stagnation. The Treasury axe fell on the public realm. Faith in the old politics drained. The Brexit vote was in part about sovereignty, about irritation with interference from Brussels, and immigration. Above all, it crystallised anger and discontent with at the establishment.

The answer to a long-asked question in opinion polls illuminates the loss of trust. Whatever your present circumstances, it inquires, are you children likely to fare better? Until the crash, and even in hard times, a positive response spoke to a certain faith in the future. No longer. A majority are now more likely to reply that, tough as it is for them, life for the next generation will be even harder.

You could call this the end of optimism. Voters have come to believe, with some reason, that the stagnation of incomes seen since the crash marks a secular rather than cyclical shift. The employment insecurity that comes with rapid technological advance is permanent. The days of secure and rising living standards are over for ever. Little wonder many now demand a different model of politics.

None of this, of course, touches the consciousness of the international network of billionaires, celebrities and politicians represented in Epstein’s network. Their connections with “the little people” do not reach beyond the hiring of drivers, housekeepers, gardeners and such like. As post crash austerity bore down on the living standards of the rest, the super rich pocketed the rewards of the soaring asset prices that came with ultra low interest rates. Epstein traded influence and opened his digital Rolodex to broker the deals. His offer was insider information, celebrity, glamour, and vulnerable young women as sexual playthings.

British voters could be forgiven for thinking that they had done with all this when they expelled the Conservatives from office in 2024. Impunity reached its apogee during the Covid lockdowns when Boris Johnson partied in Downing Street while everyone else looked on powerless as elderly relatives died alone in care homes. The crushing defeat inflicted on the Tories surely banished the sleaze and corruption that had so badly disfigured democracy?

Step forward Mandelson, returned to the stage by Starmer’s ill-judged decision to appoint him ambassador to Donald Trump’s Washington. And now we can see just how far Mandelson had been prepared to sink in pursuit of his personal mission to join the ranks of the “filthy rich”. You could say all this happened a decade or so ago, but what has been done since to demonstrate things have changed?

Britain isn’t broken. It is in serious need of repair. The suggestion among Labour MPs that the best way to begin rebuilding political trust is to throw out Starmer in favour of someone else merely insults the electorate. What stronger sign could the party give that the old politics is all about factionalism and personal ambition? And for the fuss it generates in the media, no one out there will change their mind because of the departure of Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.

The irony is that what’s required of politicians now is pretty much what Starmer and Labour promised in 2024. Steady competence, a commitment to return integrity and fairness to the business of governance, and an effort to restore the public realm and widen economic opportunity. As far as I can tell, for all its flaws and missteps, this remains the government’s purpose. Anything else is a gift to Farage.