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Peter Mandelson's sacking is the "start of the end" for Keir Starmer and the government will collapse, according to a senior Tory. Esther McVey said the Prime Minister's decision to appoint the peer as the ambassador to Washington showed his judgement is "shocking". Sir Keir finally caved in to pressure and "withdrew" Lord Mandelson from his Washington roll after a string of revelations about his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Speaking on the Daily Expresso, our weekday news show on YouTube, McVey said: "This government now seems to be rotten from the top throughout, and I'm afraid Mandelson, I think, is going to accelerate this.

"I actually think this today, and that's why I call it a seismic week and today particularly, is the start of the fall of the Labour government.

"I do not believe they'll be in for the full tenure. I think the government will collapse sooner.

"And I do think now Starmer will be gotten rid of quicker than he thought."

The former Cabinet minister predicted the PM's Cabinet colleagues will force him out.

She added: "I think this is the start of the end for Starmer. People say it's difficult to remove a Labour leader, but what you can do is get your Cabinet ministers together, get your MPs together and say 'look, you need to stand down'.

"So there isn't a particular process like there is in the Conservative Party, but they will all start saying 'you ain't the man for us'.

"He's got a lot of in-fighting. There's lots of people wanting his job in the Cabinet, whether it's Wes Streeting, Yvette Cooper, there's other people wanting this job, even Ed Miliband.

"So yes, I think Starmer is on the ropes and he's on his way out."

Lord Mandelson told Epstein to "fight for early release" shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and told him, "I think the world of you" the day before he began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

The Prime Minister had defended Lord Mandelson until the emergence of the emails, insisting he had gone through a proper vetting process and had helped build a successful relationship with Donald Trump's White House.

Lord Mandelson's friendship with Epstein had been known about, but Bloomberg and The Sun published emails showing that the relationship continued after the crimes committed by the financier had emerged.

The cache of emails obtained by Bloomberg showed that on the day before Epstein reported to jail in June 2008, Lord 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."

Lord Mandelson's position had appeared increasingly precarious after the release of the emails drew public criticism from members of the Government.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was "completely disgusted" by the messages, while Home Office minister Mike Tapp said they "really disturbing and sickening".