Keir Starmer's 39-word diatribe against Boris Johnson that's coming back to haunt him

An indignant Keir Starmer once declared "a fish rots from the head" during an attack on his opponents but it is his Labour government that stinks. Over and over, voters were told he would lead a party with integrity and competence that would restore trust in politicians. Labour cheerleaders sighed with relief that the "grown ups are back in charge" when the general election results became clear.

Instead we have sacking after sacking, a flatlining economy, more small boats crossings than before, trade unions holding the country to ransom. Peadophile-pal Peter Mandelson's defenestration is as a result of his own nauseating behaviour but who put him in one of the most important jobs of the moment? Starmer.

The peer was forced out of the Cabinet twice during the Blair years. Conservative Sir David Davis summed it up when he said Mandelson had to resign for "not telling the truth" about an interest free loan the first time and helping a business friend - one of the Indian billionaire Hinduja brothers - to get a passport on the second occasion.

"Beyond that, there are still unresolved doubts about his behaviour as the European trade commissioner when he gave concessions to the Russians," he told the Commons.

Renowned for being a master of the dark arts in politics, he was crowned "Prince of Darkness" and "the Dark Lord". His reputation preceded him but Starmer seems to have been the only one who hadn't noticed. Starmer insists all the vetting procedures in the appointment were properly followed but that is the political equivalent of knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

Procedure is no substitute for having political judgment. Starmer appears to have none so is hiding behind process, the comfort blanket of all technocrats. Did the PM and his team have no curiosity about Mandelson's links to Epstein, a man who continues to dominate global headlines from beyond the grave?

Mandelson himself admitted there were more embarrassing exchanges with Epstein to come earlier this week but Starmer still went into PMQs to defend him. A few hours later more messages came out and boy, Mandelson was not wrong.

Emails showed that on the day before Epstein reported to jail in June 2008, Mandelson told him "your friends stay with you and love you". He said: "You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can. The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are and how strong."

Why did Starmer still go out to bat for Mandelson when the man himself had warned it was going to get worse? Next week's state visit for US President Donald Trump is now set up to be dominated completely by the furore.

Last week Starmer did the same thing for Angela Rayner at PMQs over her messy housing arrangements only for her to be out of a job within 48 hours. These are pretty basic mistakes for a man who has spent years attacking PMs for defending their erring colleagues.

But on Starmer's watch Rushanara Ali has resigned as homelessness minister over increasing the rent on a property she had evicted tenants from, Louise Haigh quit over a past fraud conviction, anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq resigned after facing allegations of corruption.

All of these individual crises would soon be forgotten if Starmer was leading the country to a better place but where is the competence he promised? Instead, we have seen U-turn after U-turn. A lack of political judgment led to the winter fuel debacle. A lack of political leadership led to the welfare reform capitulation.

The Prime Minister gave a major speech on immigration but it turned out he hadn't bothered to read it first and didn't agree with it. Starmer has a huge majority but is unable to use it to effect change. He is politically impotent and only a miracle economic boom can save him now. Again, Starmer's own words should give his some serious cause for reflection:

"Boris Johnson and his Government has lurched from crisis to crisis and U-turn to U-turn.

"To correct one error, even two, might make sense.

"But when they've notched up 12 U-turns and rising, the only conclusion is serial incompetence."

Starmer has no one to blame for the state his government is in but himself. How much longer must the rest of us suffer the consequences?