Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing renewed scrutiny after documents confirmed he ignored warnings from senior advisers when appointing Peter Mandelson, a former cabinet minister with ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain's ambassador to the United States. The 150 pages released by the government on Wednesday represent only a fraction of the thousands of pages yet to be disclosed.
The due diligence checklist highlighted Mandelson's relationship with Epstein as a 'reputational risk,' but Starmer pressed ahead. Mandelson was later sacked in September after it emerged he had maintained contact with Epstein after the financier's 2008 conviction. Starmer now claims he was misled about the extent of their friendship and has apologised to Epstein's victims.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of lying to Parliament, calling for Labour MPs to reconsider his leadership. 'He told lie after lie after lie about the appointment,' she said on Thursday. Starmer's spokesperson, Tom Wells, said proper rules were followed but that the vetting process needed improvement.
The release of documents has not yet provided evidence that Starmer was misled, partly because police requested correspondence between the prime minister and Mandelson be withheld during their investigation. Mandelson was briefly arrested last month on allegations of passing sensitive information to Epstein, which he denies.
Defence lawyer Marcus Johnstone, not connected to the case, said the released files are 'the thin end of the wedge' and that more damaging disclosures are likely. 'We should be under no illusions that what we are currently seeing is anything like the full picture,' he added.
