The scandal involving former British ambassador in Washington Peter Mandelson has once again shaken the prime minister, Keir Starmer. The diary The Guardian revealed this Thursday that Mandelson did not pass the selection process for the position, due to his links to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but the Foreign Office decided to go ahead with the appointment anyway. The revelation has once again put Starmer in trouble, who assured on several occasions – one of them in Parliament – that Mandelson had indeed passed the necessary selection processes. The opposition has accused Starmer of deliberately lie y has demanded his resignation.
According to the sources consulted by the British newspaper, Mandelson was initially rejected in January 2025 by those responsible for his selection process after checking his background and his relationship with Epstein. At that time the Government had already announced the appointment of the former Labor minister as ambassador, something that placed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a compromising situation. Finally, they decided to disobey the officials’ recommendation and approved his appointment.
Resignation requests
The revelation has led opposition parties to call for Starmer’s resignationwho was already on the ropes in mid-February for this same scandal. “On September 10, the Prime Minister misled Parliament by claiming that all established procedure had been followed. If Mandelson failed the security vetting, all procedure was not followed. Fool Parliament It is a crime that justifies the resignation”the leader of the Conservative Party said this Thursday, Kemi Badenoch.
In a similar vein, the Liberal Democratic Party, Reform UK y the greenswho have called for Starmer to resign if it is confirmed that he lied about Mandelson’s selection process. but for now Downing Street has denied that the British ‘premier’ was aware of the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Neither the Prime Minister nor any other Government Minister knew, until earlier this week, that Peter Mandelson had been granted clearance contrary to the advice of the UK Security Office,” he said in a statement. “As soon as the prime minister was informed, he immediately ordered officials to clarify the circumstances for which said authorization had been granted, in order to implement the plans to report to the House of Commons”.
Questioned leadership
The scandal over the appointment of Mandelsonwho is being investigated by British police for receiving alleged Epstein payments and for share confidential information with him during his time as Trade Minister, caused the resignation of Downing Street’s Director of Communications and Starmer’s Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, his right-hand man and one of his closest collaborators. The Executive was also forced to provide Parliament with all the documentation regarding the selection process to clarify to what extent the links were known of Mandelson with the pedophile before his appointment as ambassador.
But there are still many questions to be answered, including if Starmer was aware of the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or if it was even he himself who gave the order to go ahead with the appointment despite contrary recommendations from security officials. Two months ago, the prime minister resisted attempts by his people to end his leadershipbut this Thursday’s revelations have reminded him that the Mandelson scandal is far from over and that his political future is closely linked to it.
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