PRESS REVIEW – Monday, April 20: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's troubles continue after it emerged last week that he sent Peter Mandelson to Washington as ambassador despite him failing to meet Foreign Office security standards. Also, anger mounts in Peru after the first round of the presidential elections saw widespread irregularities, including polling stations that didn't open and ballot papers found in bins. Finally, Etsy are finally looking to tap the potential of the break-up economy.
It's the day Keir Starmer must stand up and take the blame, says the Daily Mail, as he prepares to tell parliament once again that the Foreign Office concealed Peter Mandelson's failed security clearance from Downing Street. The "I didn't know defence" is one he often lambasted Boris Johnson over during Partygate and other scandals, an irony not lost on Ella Baron at the Guardian. The Telegraph, meanwhile, argues that this security clearance is really a technicality, as the prime minister was aware of the red flags about Mandelson regardless. The senior civil servant who took the fall may be considering legal action against the government, the Times reports.
In Peru, eight days after round one of presidential elections, the line-up for round two is still unknown. Far-right candidate Keiko Fujimori is ahead by a significant margin so is likely to make the ballot on June 7, but as counting continues, it's a tight race for second place between left-winger Roberto Sanchez and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga. This comes after a shambolic election, as described by Libération, in which 13 polling stations simply never opened, and after which boxes of ballot papers were found in a skip. The authority who organised the poll blames problems on a private company with government contracts, and on Friday both the authority and the company saw their premises raided by police. An editorial in El Comercio calls this a "scandalous level of negligence [which] could suggest intent".
Finally, the Times reports that e-commerce platform Etsy have created the possibility of a "breakup registry", not dissimilar to a "wedding registry", as 40 percent of Gen Z members feel that relationship endings deserve similar attention to marriages, since they are significant life events in which a person might need support. Critics will call it cashing in on heartbreak, while supporters will say it can offer empowerment in a moment of need.
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