Overview
- Keir Starmer told Parliament on Monday that naming Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States was a wrong call, took responsibility, and apologized to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
- The Guardian revealed that the Foreign Office approved Mandelson in January 2025 despite a negative security assessment, which Starmer says he only discovered through press reports.
- Olly Robbins, the dismissed senior Foreign Office adviser, told MPs that officials felt pressure to push the appointment through despite early reputational risk warnings, a claim Downing Street denies.
- Starmer has changed procedure so no appointment will be announced before security vetting is finished, arguing officials could have warned him without breaching confidentiality.
- Police in the UK are investigating allegations that Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein years before his posting, a development that has fueled opposition demands for Starmer to resign.