Pressure from Downing Street to install Peter Mandelson in Washington was relentless, with security concerns seemingly treated as an obstacle to be pushed aside, a dismissed senior official told MPs today. Olly Robbins, until last week the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, said Keir Starmer's team showed a "dismissive attitude" toward the security vetting process for the government's choice of ambassador to the United States. He appeared before a parliamentary watchdog committee as the prime minister continued…

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…

A diplomatic row at the heart of government has erupted around Keir Starmer after it emerged that the Foreign Office overrode a security vetting recommendation to approve Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US. The prime minister and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper have both lost confidence in Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Olly Robbins over the affair, and he is expected to leave the role, according to reports. Security officials had originally refused to grant Mr Mandelson clearance, before Foreign…

U.K. to release first tranche of Mandelson appointment files amid Epstein-linked probe The U.K. government will publish the first batch of documents today relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States, as police continue investigating allegations he passed sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein during his time as business secretary. Mandelson was arrested on Feb. 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was bailed and later released from his bail conditions, but remains under…

Peter Mandelson has been released on bail after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid a Metropolitan Police investigation into whether sensitive government information was passed to Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement issued just after 2 a.m., the Metropolitan Police said a 72-year-old man “arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation.” The force said the man was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, Feb. 23, and taken to a London police…

Peter Mandelson has been asked to testify before the U.S. Congress over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a letter from two Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The lawmakers urged Mandelson to appear for a transcribed interview with staff of the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel’s ongoing probe into Epstein. The letter, reviewed by Axadle Times, stated: “Given the appalling allegations regarding Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself…

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face his MPs this week as he fights for his political survival after his chief of staff resigned over the fallout from the Peter Mandelson appointment and its links to Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer is expected to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party amid anger over his decision to name Mandelson ambassador to the United States, despite knowing Mandelson’s association with Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offenses. The government is…

Morgan McSweeney quits as Starmer’s chief of staff over Mandelson appointment, plunging Labour into deepest crisis of premiership Morgan McSweeney resigned as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff on Sunday, taking responsibility for advising the appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to the United States despite Mandelson’s known links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The departure of McSweeney — a Cork-born strategist instrumental in Labour’s 2024 landslide — comes amid newly released files…

Keir Starmer’s defense of his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington — that he did not grasp the depth of Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — does not withstand the weight of what was already widely known. The scandal now engulfing Downing Street is not a bolt from the blue; it is the foreseeable consequence of elevating a man whose entanglements, instincts and methods were part of the public record. And it has exposed the operating system of this government more starkly than…

Morgan McSweeney, the strategist who engineered Labour’s turn from activism to authority and shepherded Keir Starmer to Downing Street, is facing the most bruising test of his quiet power. The prime minister’s chief of staff has been pulled into the fallout from the appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to the United States, a decision now tainted by Mandelson’s continued association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer has apologized to Epstein’s victims and for “believing lies,” while insisting…