British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in London on Friday that he was “furious” at the security blunder that allowed the appointment of controversial counterpart Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, before Mandelson was later fired over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The issue has been thrust into the spotlight again after The Guardian reported that Lord Mandelson had failed a mandatory security clearance for high-profile government appointments.
However, it is reported that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office overturned this strict review last year and gave the green light to the appointment.
“I was not informed that Peter Mandelson did not have a security clearance when he was appointed, which is shocking,” Starmer told reporters in Paris. He is hosting a summit in Paris to agree on a defense plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
“It’s inexcusable that I was not informed that he had failed his security clearance when I told Parliament that due process had been followed. Not only was it not told to me, but it was also not told to the minister and I’m absolutely furious about that.”
“I intend to go to Parliament on Monday and lay out all the relevant facts in a truly transparent manner so that Parliament understands the full picture,” he said.
The government placed the blame on Foreign Office officials, with the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Sir Ollie Robbins, sacked over the mistake.
However, opposition MPs and some of Starmer’s own Labor colleagues have raised questions about the credibility of claims the prime minister was informed of the failed UK security service review only this week.
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenock said “all roads lead to resignation”. He insisted it was “simply impossible” and Starmer was unaware Mandelson had failed his vetting process.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey accused the Prime Minister of showing “catastrophically poor judgement” and questioned whether he had misled parliament by insisting that all “due process” had been followed in Mandelson’s appointment.
Meanwhile, Ollie Robbins has been summoned by the Commons foreign affairs committee to appear before a cross-party panel as some of the senior civil servant’s previous statements about the appointment process are now “questioned”.
After the latest revelations came to light, Darren Jones, the Prime Minister’s principal secretary, stepped in to suspend rules that allowed the Foreign Office to veto security clearance procedures.
“The fact that this process was allowed to happen is, frankly, appalling,” he said.
Mandelson’s appointment and subsequent sacking last year caused considerable turmoil at the heart of the UK government, with repeated calls for Starmer to resign over the appointment, despite well-known ties between the former Labor cabinet minister and Epstein.
Earlier this year, Starmer apologized to Epstein’s victims as he sought to move away from the scandal and lost one of his most senior political aides, Morgan McSweeney, who was responsible for the dubious appointment.
However, the issue continues to dog his government as the Metropolitan Police investigate further revelations about Mandelson’s ties to the late American sex offender. Although Mandelson denied wrongdoing, he was sacked after seven months in Washington and the British government released documents related to his appointment process in line with transparency norms.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
