UK PM Starmer apologises for Mandelson's posting amid calls to resign

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised for his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington, as he criticised civil servants for failing to inform him that the Labour grandee had failed security vetting.

 

“I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson,” Starmer told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “I take responsibility for that decision, and I apologise again to the victims of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who were clearly failed by my decision.” Starmer also said he’d followed the standard process in naming Mandelson to the post before he had been vetted.

 

Starmer is heading for a showdown with the senior official he fired over the saga, former Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins, who approved Mandelson’s security clearances despite the failed vetting. Robbins is due to speak to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee at 9 am on Tuesday, a moment of potential danger for the PM if he reveals damaging new details about the appointment.

 

 

The renewed questions about the appointment have piled fresh pressure on Starmer ahead of a crunch set of local polls on May 7, in which surveys suggest the Labour Party will suffer heavy losses.

 

Starmer said he had asked the group overseeing security standards across government to examine any security concerns raised during Mandelson’s tenure as ambassador to the United States. “I can tell the house that I’ve now updated the terms of reference for the review into security vetting to make sure it covers the means by which all decisions are made in relation to national security vetting,” he said. The British premier added: “Separately, I’ve asked the government security group in the Cabinet Office to look at any security concerns raised during Peter Mandelson’s tenure.”