Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite failed security clearance and links to Jeffrey Epstein
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will address the nationtoday as he attempts to regain control of a crisis that has seen authority slip from his hands later today.
Starmer will endure a fierce grilling in Parliament when he rises to explain why Peter Mandelson, a controversy-plagued politician and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was made Britain’s ambassador to Washington despite failing security checks – and apparently without Starmer being informed about the reservations.
The disclosure has prompted irate opposition figures to demand Starmer’s resignation and left nervous allies questioning what else the nation’s leader was unaware of.
The exact time of the grilling hasn’t been confirmed as yet, but Starmer repeatedly assured MPs that “due process” was adhered to when Mandelson was appointed last week. He now claims he’s “furious” that he wasn’t briefed that a thorough vetting procedure had advised against granting Mandelson security clearance. The Foreign Office, which handles diplomatic appointments, approved him regardless.
Starmer dismissed the department’s senior civil servant, Olly Robbins, within hours of The Guardian’s revelation last week. However, supporters of Robbins maintain he would never have been permitted to disclose sensitive vetting details to the prime minister.
Robbins is anticipated to present his own account of events to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. All the main opposition parties have demanded Starmer to step down. Right-of-centre Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch stated in the Mail on Sunday that he had “misled Parliament over Mandelson, misled the country and is taking the public for fools.”
Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, claimed Starmer had “showed catastrophic misjudgment.”
Senior government colleagues have backed the prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy asserted that if Starmer had known about the failed security vetting, “he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador.”
However, MPs in Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party, already concerned about the party’s dismal poll ratings, are uneasy. Starmer has already diffused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour MPs called for him to resign over the Mandelson appointment.
He could face a new challenge if, as anticipated, Labour suffers a drubbing in local and regional elections on 7 May, which offer voters an opportunity to pass a midterm verdict on the government.
Critics argue the Mandelson appointment is further proof of a failure of judgment by a prime minister who has made repeated blunders since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, mend battered public services and alleviate the cost of living, and has been compelled into repeated policy U-turns.
He selected Mandelson for one of Britain’s most crucial diplomatic positions despite being cautioned by his team that Mandelson’s association with Epstein, who perished in custody in 2019, left the government vulnerable to “reputational risk.”
Mandelson’s commercial ties to Russia and China also triggered concerns. However, his experience as a former European Union trade commissioner and connections amongst international elites were viewed as advantages when handling President Donald Trump’s administration.
He remained in post for fewer than nine months. Starmer dismissed Mandelson in September 2025 following revelations that he had been dishonest about the scope of his connections to Epstein.
A collection of Epstein-related documents published by the U.S. Department of Justice in January contained emails indicating Mandelson had shared sensitive, and potentially market-influencing, government intelligence with Epstein in 2009 following the global financial crisis.
British police initiated a criminal investigation and detained Mandelson in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has previously refuted any wrongdoing and remains uncharged. He is not facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
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