{"id":539278,"date":"2026-04-19T11:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T11:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/539278\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T11:17:13","slug":"allies-back-starmer-as-mandelsons-epstein-link-leaves-uk-leader-fighting-for-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/539278\/","title":{"rendered":"Allies back Starmer as Mandelson’s Epstein link leaves UK leader fighting for his job"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Senior Cabinet ministers on Sunday rallied around UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose leadership is teetering over his decision<\/a> to give Britain\u2019s most important diplomatic job to Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished politician and friend of Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

Starmer will face restive lawmakers in Parliament Monday to fight for his job after the explosive revelation that Mandelson was appointed ambassador to the United States despite\u00a0failing security checks.<\/p>\n

Starmer says he\u2019s \u201cfurious\u201d that he wasn\u2019t told at the time, in January 2025, that an intensive vetting process had recommended Mandelson not be given security clearance. The Foreign Office, which oversees diplomatic appointments, cleared him anyway.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said that if Starmer had known, \u201che would never, ever have appointed him ambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told Sky News on Sunday that Starmer \u201cis a man of integrity and there is no way he would have proceeded\u201d with Mandelson\u2019s appointment had he known.<\/p>\n

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The top civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, was forced to resign on Thursday \u2014 though allies say he was just doing his job and is being made a scapegoat. Robbins is expected to give his own version of events to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPeter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States, leaves his house in London, March 10, 2026. (Kin Cheung\/AP)<\/p>\n

Simon McDonald, who was top civil servant in the Foreign Office until 2020, said Robbins had been \u201cthrown under the bus.\u201d He told the BBC that vetting information was highly sensitive and \u201cwould never be shared\u201d with the prime minister or his staff.<\/p>\n

All the main opposition parties have called on Starmer to resign. Right-of-center Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister\u2019s position is \u201cuntenable.\u201d Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Sunday that the government is \u201cin perpetual crisis, and I don\u2019t think they can get out of that unless Keir Starmer moves aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s Labour Party holds a large parliamentary majority, so power to topple him lies with his own lawmakers, who are already glum about the party\u2019s dire poll ratings.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u00a0defused a potential crisis\u00a0in February, when some Labour lawmakers called for him to resign over the Mandelson appointment. But he could face a leadership challenge after local and regional elections on May 7, in which Labour is expected to do badly.<\/p>\n

Some Labour lawmakers think it would be damaging to change leaders at a time of global instability, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and with three years until a national election must be called.<\/p>\n

Others despair at the prime minister\u2019s\u00a0repeated missteps\u00a0since he led Labour to a\u00a0landslide election victory\u00a0in July 2024. Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair\u00a0tattered public services\u00a0and ease the cost of living, and has been forced into repeated policy U-turns.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tBritain\u2019s Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers\u2019 Questions session in parliament in London, March 11, 2026. (Frank Augstein\/AP)<\/p>\n

Critics say the Mandelson appointment reveals the prime minister\u2019s lack of judgment. Documents released by the government in March, after being forced to by Parliament, showed Starmer was warned by his staff that Mandelson\u2019s friendship with Epstein, who\u00a0died in prison in 2019, exposed the government to \u201creputational risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

But his expertise as a former European Union trade chief and contacts among global elites were considered assets in dealing with US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

He lasted less than nine months in the job. Starmer\u00a0fired Mandelson\u00a0in September 2025 after evidence emerged that he had lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.<\/p>\n

The release of millions of pages of Epstein-related documents by the US Department of Justice in January brought more revelations, showing that Mandelson\u2019s relationship with the financier continued even after Epstein\u2019s conviction in 2008 for sexual offenses involving a minor.<\/p>\n

Emails also suggested Mandelson had passed on sensitive, and potentially market-moving, government information to Epstein in 2009 after the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n

British police launched a criminal probe and arrested Mandelson February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

He has been released without bail conditions as the police investigation continues. Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and\u00a0hasn\u2019t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n


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