The British PM said he regrets appointing Peter Mandelson — a friend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — as U.K. ambassador to Washington.
LONDON — Keir Starmer said Wednesday he will publish the “full documentation” on Peter Mandelson’s appointment as British ambassador to Washington, claiming the former Labour peer “lied repeatedly to my team.”
Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday the British PM said official security vetting conducted before Mandelson was sent to represent the British government in the U.S. had revealed his ongoing relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and he had been questioned about it.
“He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador. I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government,” Starmer said.
The PM said he wants MPs to see “the full documentation,” and “the extent to which … time and time again Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein, and lied throughout the process — including in response to the due diligence.”
Mandelson will also be stripped of his membership of the Privy Council — a group of senior public figures who traditionally advised the monarch, who can use the title “right honourable,” Starmer said.
Earlier Wednesday Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the prime minister will release information into the public domain about how Mandelson was appointed, his correspondence with ministers and his subsequent sacking last September his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s judgement in appointing Mandelson to the key Washington post has been called into question by his political opponents, and some of his own MPs.
“There is no doubt that the prime minister’s judgment is being called into the sharpest question at this moment,” said Alex Burghart, a Conservative shadow Cabinet minister, said. “It is becoming harder to see how any of us can rely on his judgment into the future.”
Exploiting that disquiet, his party has put forward a humble address — a parliamentary message to King Charles that was favored by Starmer during his time as leader of the opposition — calling for “all papers” relating to Mandelson’s appointment last year to be published. If agreed, it would bind the U.K. government to release the documents.
The Tories are calling for the release of the “due diligence which was passed to Number 10,” conflict of interest forms over Mandelson’s work in Russia and China, and correspondence (including electronic communications) between the ex-ambassador and ministers and the PM’s Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney — who encouraged Starmer to send the then Labour peer to Washington.
The U.K. government has published an amendment to the address accepting the Tories’ request, with the caveat it will exclude “papers prejudicial to U.K. national security or international relations.”
Some Labour MPs were telling party whips on Wednesday morning that they would not accept the government’s amendment, two people familiar with the situation said. One of the people said rebel MPs did not want to vote “for a fucking cover-up.”
U.K. lawmakers will debate and vote on what should be released on Wednesday afternoon.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed Tuesday evening that Mandelson is under investigation for alleged misconduct in public office after it also appeared he leaked sensitive government discussions at the height of the financial crisis to the late financier.
Starmer said the Met Police had been in touch Wednesday to “raise issues about anything that would prejudice their investigations.”
Mandelson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the police investigation on Tuesday evening. He has previously said he was wrong to have continued his association with Epstein and apologized “unequivocally” to Epstein’s victims.
And in a Times Newspaper interview that was conducted before the most recent batch of Epstein files were released, Mandelson attempted to explain his historic association with the disgraced financier.
“I don’t know what his motives were — probably mixed — but he provided guidance to help me navigate out of the world of politics and into the world of commerce and finance,” Mandelson told the newspaper.
Mandelson also resigned from the House of Lords and left Labour following the latest tranche of correspondence in the Epstein Files.
This developing story is being updated