Former prime minister Gordon Brown said the situation facing Keir Starmer was "serious" and suggested the Labour leader had been "too slow to do the right things" to clean up politics in the wake of the Peter Mandelson row.

In the UK, former Labour Party leader Gordon Brown has said that the situation facing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "serious" - amid the growing political scandal over Peter Mandelson.

Mr Brown (right) - who has never forgiven Mandelson (left) for backing Tony Blair as leader in 1994 - timed his comments to coincide with the police search of Mandelson's homes.

Lord Mandelson, his former business secretary, allegedly shared market-sensitive information with the US sex offender after the 2008 global financial crisis.