STORY: :: Starmer says he should not have appointed Peter Mandelson as U.S. ambassador
:: London, England / April 20, 2026
:: Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister
"I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson. I take responsibility for that decision, and I apologize again to the victims of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who were clearly failed by my decision. Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday evening, the 14th of April, I found out for the first time that on the 29th of January 2025, before Peter Mandelson took up his position as ambassador, the Foreign Office officials granted him developed vetting clearance against the specific recommendation of the United Kingdom Security vetting, that developed vetting clearance should be denied. Not only that, the Foreign Office officials who made that decision did not pass this information to me, to the foreign secretary, to her predecessor, the deputy prime minister, to any other minister, or even to the former cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald. I found this staggering."
Starmer told lawmakers it was staggering that he had not been told that Mandelson had failed his security vetting clearance, even when he ordered a review into the process.
He apologized again to victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and said Mandelson should never have been appointed as the UK's ambassador to the U.S., adding that his judgment was wrong.
