{"id":534602,"date":"2026-04-16T19:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534602\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:03:15","slug":"lord-mandelson-failed-vetting-but-was-given-uk-ambassador-to-us-job-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534602\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Mandelson failed vetting but was given UK ambassador to US job anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK’s former ambassador in Washington, Peter Mandelson, failed to get security clearance after an extensive vetting process prior to taking up the position, in yet another blow to the prime ministership of Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

The decision to deny the former lord security clearance in January 2025 was later overruled by the UK’s Home Office, the Guardian newspaper has reported, citing multiple sources.<\/p>\n

The move to overrule UK security officials allowed Lord Mandelson to then take up the role as British ambassador to the US in February last year.<\/p>\n

Lord Mandelson was a powerful figure within the UK’s governing Labour Party, having previously served as a minister under Tony Blair.<\/p>\n

He was sacked as ambassador and later resigned from the British House of Lords, after revelations in the so-called Epstein files about his connections with the late convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Revelations about Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein have damaged the standing of Sir Keir Starmer. (Reuters: Carl Court)<\/p>\n

The close ally of Sir Keir was earlier this year questioned by police over his connections to Epstein<\/a>, with revelations he allegedly handed the American financier confidential information about the UK government’s response plans to the European fiscal crisis in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n

Last month, it was revealed Sir Keir had previously been warned about the “reputational risk” Lord Mandelson’s alleged links to Epstein could hold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

British media has continually reported that it is understood Lord Mandelson maintains his innocence.<\/p>\n

The vetting process for Lord Mandelson was undertaken by the Cabinet Office, the Guardian reported.<\/p>\n

\"Ghislaine<\/p>\n

Further revelations about Jeffrey Epstein have roiled the British establishment. (Supplied: US Attorney’s Office SDNY)<\/p>\n

The revelations published on Thursday afternoon local time were not disclosed by a previous document release by the UK government into what it knew about Lord Mandelson.<\/p>\n

The Guardian alleges senior government officials were considering whether to withhold from parliament documents that would reveal that Lord Mandelson was not given vetting approval from security officials.<\/p>\n

Lord Mandelson is one of two high-profile British figures questioned over their connections with Epstein, the other being former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The revelations about Lord Mandelson raised questions about the leadership and judgement of the already embattled Sir Keir, who has been fighting to save his prime ministership amid sliding domestic popularity and multiple ministerial scandals.<\/p>\n

Following those reports, leaders of other major British parties lined up to criticise the Labour leader.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of misleading parliament when he said three times in September that “full due process” was followed.<\/p>\n

If Sir Keir was found to have knowingly misled parliament, he would have broken the code that governs ministers’ behaviour and would be expected to resign.<\/p>\n

“Keir Starmer said in February that the security services had given Mandelson ‘clearance for the role’,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK Party which is leading polls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Now we discover that he has blatantly lied, the prime minister should resign.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK’s former ambassador in Washington, Peter Mandelson, failed to get security clearance after an extensive vetting process…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2307,59,57,58,3365,420,50,424,184810,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-534602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-keir-starmer","tag-news","tag-peter-mandelson","tag-security-clearance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}