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Darren Jones, an ultra-loyalist and one of the most senior cabinet ministers in Keir Starmer’s government, has said that Andy Burnham was right to apologise over the previous administration’s handling of Gaza.
In an interview for The Real Question with Shehab Khan, Jones, who served as Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister in Downing Street just a few months ago, referred to Starmer’s infamous LBC interview where he said Israel had the right to turn off Gaza’s power and water supply and said Burnham’s apology was the right move.
“He wanted to repair the relationship of the voters off the back of the interview… Andy Burnham is right to apologise for that, no question.”
Jones, who was also the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, also revealed that he considered quitting from the cabinet over the fallout from Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US Ambassador, after reading reports that the Labour peer had been given the job despite the UK Security and Vetting Office advising against it.
“I thought, if it turns out that Keir or the team in Number 10 knew and appointed him anyway, then there was no way I was going to stand up and defend that. And so I was on the train going back to London thinking, if they knew that, I’m going to resign today.”
The government ultimately claimed Starmer did not know, so Jones stayed on. Instead, Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, both lost their jobs.
In the wide-ranging interview, Jones also talks about:
* Keir Starmer’s handling of Gaza
* His personal relationship with Lord Mandelson
* The freebies scandal and ‘rookie errors’ that led to Starmer’s demise
* Whether the government is equipped to deal with rapidly developing AI models.
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