Self-evidently, that choice involved a blithe disregard for Epstein and his associates’ victims, and the women – not least in the Labour party – who have spent whole lifetimes campaigning against such cruelty and abuse. That plain fact, moreover, blurs into whether Starmer, McSweeney or any of the other people involved had any meaningful awareness of how Mandelson’s appointment might sooner or later look to the public. Apparently not. They made their choice, and have been hit by what they failed to foresee: not just Mandelson’s unravelling, but a hardening of many people’s contempt for both the current government and most of the structures of politics and power.