Deliverance Day: Meet Starmer’s Mr Fixer-in-Chief

William Cash | 11th March 2026 | Editor's Pick, Westminster Index
Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the PM, has released the first tranche of the Mandelson Files to the Commons. In an exclusive, he tells The Mace that his political hero is Ernest Bevin and that he gets fired up by the D: Ream song: "Things Can Only Get Better"

Darren Jones was on his feet at the Commons despatch box shortly after PMQs, waiting long enough for his boss, Sir Keir Starmer, to be safely out of sight. As he delivered his speech , which the highlight was revealing that the government had refused to pay Mandelson the half a million pounds he wanted as a payoff for being sacked as US ambassador, Jones's role became clear: he was Starmer's Mr Enforcer. In the end Mandelson got £75,000. This was spoken as of a victory. Jones played the same role back in February when he spoke to the House on Starmer's behalf just minutes before pictures emerged of Lord Mandelson being arrested in his London home for alleged offences relating to 'misconduct in public office'. As Starmer's right-hand man in Cabinet - and fixer-in-chief - the 39 year old Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister was given the unenviable job of announcing that the first release of the Mandelson papers relating to his appointment as US ambassador would be in March. The speed...

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