Labour grandee Peter Mandelson has said he wants GB News to survive because it is “stirring” Tory divisions and helping “undo” Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
The architect of New Labour backed the under-fire channel to “keep going”, as it reels from the controversy over host Laurence Fox’s misogynist rant about a female journalist.
But Lord Mandelson then celebrated the damaging impact the broadcaster was having on the Conservatives by stoking clashes between three increasingly rowdy Tory factions.
He told GB News that the Tories had lost their “hunger” for power. “They’re all like three different parties fighting each other as if they’re already in opposition.”
“I mean, you’ve got the centre-right Conservative Party, which you associate with David Cameron. You’ve got the right wing which is headed up by Rishi Sunak. And then you’ve got the further right Conservative Party, sort of trumpeted and supported by GB News.”
Lord Mandelson added: “I want GB News to keep going. They’re stirring the pot, they’re creating divisions in the Conservative Party. They’re undoing the Conservative Party. And very, very timely it is too.”
Mr Fox was fired by GB News after an astonishing rant against journalist Ava Evans in which he said: “Who would want to shag her?” Amid calls for the channel to be taken off air, fellow GB News host Calvin Robinson was also fired. An internal investigation into Dan Wootton is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson also hailed Keir Starmer ahead of his crucial Labour conference speech – claiming he was “nearest thing to Tony Blair” since Mr Blair was in power.
He also said the Labour conference felt a lot more like conference leading up to the 1997 election triumph than the pre-1992 get together. “He’s a mainstream politician. He’s completely in touch with and connected with what people are thinking in the country,” Mandelson said on Starmer.
Peter Mandelson (centre) listens as shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves
Lord Mandelson was given a front row seat for Rachel Reeves’ speech on Monday, signalling his return to the heart of the party after the huge push to the left under Jeremy Corbyn.
He credited Sir Keir with moving the party from “weird to normal” at the weekend, and also suggested Unite leader Sharon Graham was “bold and stupid” in calling for the re-nationalisation of energy companies.
“I agree that we need more than policy tweaks and we need than small twists of the policy dial. Yes, I’m happy to be bold – but not bold and stupid,” the former business secretary told Sky News.
Lord Mandelson added: “I’m going to be campaigning for a Labour government that’s going get steelworkers making green steel, not passing £96bn worth of public funds to the shareholders in BP and other energy companies … You know what bold and stupid is.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Pat McFadden, Labour’s campaign co-ordinator, insisted there is no great division in the party after members backed the union motion to ne-nationalise energy.
He told BBC Breakfast: “No, there isn’t. The truth is we have a different plan, based on a different vision, which is a combination of public and private action.”
Mr McFadden said a new company called GB Energy will “fill in the gaps where the market itself wouldn’t”.
