A Note on Robert Jenrick’s “Paedo” Rhetoric

From Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick, on Twitter/X: We’re told Starmer is “furious”. Well only because he’s trying to save his own skin again over paedo pal, Peter Mandelson… The lack of any article or pronoun before “paedo pal” (“his” or “the”) creates ambiguity, although the most natural reading is that Starmer has a paedo pal, who is Peter Mandelson. However, the post also includes a short clip from Jenrick speaking in Parliament, in which he refers to “the paedophile pal Peter”, more clearly denoting a reference to Peter Mandelson as a “pal” of Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson famously described himself as Epstein’s “best pal” back in 2003, several years prior to Epstein’s first arrest – although this is shaky ground for an attack from the right, given that the quote is from the same Epstein birthday book in which Donald Trump is also alleged to have also called Epstein “a pal”. Unlike Trump, though, Mandelson remained friends with Epstein following his conviction, although this was no…