I remember when everyone was talking about how Starmer was going to be this dull technocratic scandal-free no-nonsense sort, and always thought it was complete crap, because he had consistently surrounded himself with some of the biggest and dodgiest shits in British politics, not least Peter sodding Mandelson.
Hiring Peter Mandelson and not expecting him to disgrace you by getting involved in some deeply unseemly scandal is like trying to find a nice film for your two young children to watch and deciding to go with a DVD of "Come and See". At some point it's not someone else's fault that your judgment is just that obviously, hideously poor.