Starmer says appointing Mandelson as US envoy was a mistake

Under mounting pressure, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer admitted he made the wrong call in appointing Labour grandee Peter Mandelson as Britain’s envoy to Washington, as he tried to contain a crisis tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time associate.

Already deeply unpopular with voters and facing discontent among Labour MPs, Mr Starmer is battling a controversy that has cast a long shadow over his leadership and raised fresh doubts about his judgment.

Speaking in parliament as the row intensified, Mr Starmer said: “At the heart of this, there is also a judgment I made that was wrong. I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson.”

New demands for his resignation followed last week’s disclosure that Mr Mandelson — whose friendship with the late convicted US sex offender had long been in the public domain — was appointed Britain’s envoy to Washington last year despite not passing security checks.

“It beggars belief that throughout the whole timeline of events, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold this information from the most senior ministers in our system, in government,” he told MPs.

“If I had known before he took up his post that (the) recommendation was that developed vetting clearance should be denied, I would not have gone ahead with the appointment.”

‘Unconventional’

Last Thursday, Mr Starmer dismissed the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Olly Robins, and told MPs he had ordered a review of the security vetting system.

But former civil servants say Mr Starmer has made Mr Robbins a scapegoat, with the ex-official due to give his own version of events to a parliamentary watchdog committee on Tuesday.

Opposition leaders have urged the centre-left Labour prime minister to step aside, accusing him of everything from incompetence to deliberately misleading parliament and the public.

In February, Mr Starmer told parliament that “full due process” had been followed when Mr Mandelson was vetted and cleared for the high-profile post.

Downing Street has maintained that statement still stands, arguing that government rules gave the Foreign Office authority to override vetting concerns without informing Mr Starmer or his inner circle.

On Friday, the prime minister’s office made the rare decision to publish a memo stating that he had learned of the vetting failure only last Tuesday.

For now, senior ministers have stood by him.

“A judgement was made that the Trump administration was an unconventional administration and an unconventional ambassador could do a job for the United Kingdom,” Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander said.

“That judgement was wrong and the prime minister accepts that.”

Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, walks his collie outside his residence in central London

‘He has to go’

Other ministers have insisted Mr Starmer should stay in office, arguing that upheaval at the top would be risky during global turmoil driven by the Middle East war and other challenges, including efforts to reset relations with the European Union.

But opinion polls indicate Mr Starmer ranks among the most unpopular prime ministers in modern British history.

If Mr Starmer had known about the failed vetting “then he has to go, he has to resign”, retired dentist Andrews Connell, 59, said.

“If he knew that’s really bad. If he didn’t know, he should have known.”

Pensioner Lyndia Shaw, 73, shared that view, saying Mr Starmer is “absolutely hopeless, hopeless, and I feel that yes Mandelson should face the full force of the law without doubt”.

But retiree Duncan Moss, 67, said he would be “very worried if Starmer was to leave and to not run the country. I think he’s doing a very good job. I think he’s a very mature, experienced leader”.

Mr Starmer removed Mr Mandelson from the role in September 2025, seven months after he began the job, after further details surfaced about the extent of the former envoy’s relationship with Epstein, who died in a US prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

British police are investigating allegations that Mr Mandelson, 72, committed misconduct in public office during his time as a Labour minister more than 15 years ago. He was arrested and later released in February.

Mr Mandelson has not been charged and denies any criminal wrongdoing.

At the same time, Mr Starmer and Labour are preparing for what could be a bruising round of local elections next month, including contests in the devolved parliaments of Scotland and Wales.

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