LONDON (AP) — The previous head of Britain’s overseas service mentioned Tuesday he was pressured by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s workplace to hurry via the affirmation of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington, and claimed Downing Road brushed apart security concerns concerning the alternative.
The testimony by Olly Robbins will increase the warmth on Starmer, who’s facing calls to resign over the choice to nominate Mandelson, a scandal-tainted politician and good friend of Jeffrey Epstein, to one of many U.Okay.’s most vital diplomatic posts.
Robbins, the previous prime civil servant within the International Workplace, mentioned there was an “ambiance of strain” from Starmer’s 10 Downing St. workplace to approve the appointment so Mandelson may very well be within the put up firstly of U.S. President Donald Trump ’s second time period.
He instructed the Home of Commons International Affairs Committee there had been “a really, very robust expectation” that Mandelson “wanted to be in put up and in America as shortly as humanly potential.” He mentioned Downing Road had “a typically dismissive perspective” towards the requirement for robust safety checks.
The prime minister fired Robbins final week after the revelation that Mandelson was permitted for the job in January 2025 towards the advice of the federal government’s safety vetting company.
Robbins mentioned the vetting company thought-about Mandelson a “borderline case” and was “leaning towards recommending towards” giving him safety clearance. Robbins cleared him anyway, based mostly on recommendation that the dangers may very well be managed, he mentioned.
Robbins mentioned the considerations about Mandelson didn’t relate to his relationship with Epstein, however he declined to clarify to lawmakers what led the federal government’s vetting company to flag him as a possible safety threat.
Mandelson needed to resign twice from senior posts in earlier Labour Celebration governments due to scandals over cash and ethics. A separate background report ready earlier than he was appointed ambassador flagged potential enterprise hyperlinks to Russia and China as a priority.
Politicians wished the appointment permitted
Starmer has referred to as it “staggering” that International Workplace officers failed to inform him concerning the safety considerations, which he says he solely discovered about final week. Robbins mentioned the foundations bar particulars of the delicate vetting course of from being shared besides in “distinctive circumstances.”
Starmer introduced the selection of Mandelson in December 2024, earlier than intensive safety checks have been carried out. Robbins mentioned he was “very acutely aware” that refusing Mandelson safety clearance would have precipitated “an actual drawback for the federal government and an issue for the nation” in its relations with the Trump administration.
Robbins declined to determine any people as being behind the strain. Starmer’s chief of workers, Morgan McSweeney, a protégé of Mandelson, resigned in February, saying he took accountability for the choice to nominate Mandelson.
The chief of the opposition Conservative Celebration, Kemi Badenoch, mentioned Starmer “personally determined to nominate a severe recognized nationwide safety threat to our most delicate diplomatic put up.
“The prime minister shouldn’t be match for workplace,” she mentioned. “It’s time for him to go.”
Starmer acknowledged on Monday that he made the flawed judgment when he picked Mandelson for the job, however mentioned he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d recognized concerning the failed safety vetting.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September, 9 months into the job, when new particulars emerged about his friendship with Epstein, a convicted intercourse offender who died in prison in 2019.
The U.Okay. chief has ordered a evaluation of safety considerations arising from Mandelson’s entry to delicate info whereas ambassador.
Questions over Starmer’s judgment
Critics say the Mandelson appointment is extra proof of unhealthy judgment by a major minister who has made repeated missteps since he led the center-left Labour Celebration to a landslide election victory in July 2024.
He picked Mandelson as ambassador regardless of being warned by his workers that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein uncovered the federal government to “reputational threat.” Mandelson’s experience as a former European Union commerce chief and contacts amongst international elites have been thought-about belongings in coping with the Trump administration.
Starmer says he received’t resign, however the scandal has precipitated gloom amongst lawmakers in his center-left Labour Celebration, already anxious about its dire ballot rankings. Starmer already defused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers urged him to stop over the Mandelson appointment.
He might face a brand new problem if, as anticipated, Labour takes a hammering in native and regional elections on Might 7, which give voters an opportunity to move a midterm verdict on the federal government.
Rob Ford, professor of politics on the College of Manchester, mentioned that whatever the complexities and blame-trading, the view of many citizens boils all the way down to: “Keir Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson. Peter Mandelson was a wrong-un and he frolicked with Jeffrey Epstein.
“And none of this that we’ve seen in the present day or another day does something besides reinforce that,” he mentioned. “And that’s simply disastrous” for Starmer.
Power Secretary Ed Miliband mentioned he had raised considerations concerning the alternative of ambassador, however didn’t assume Starmer ought to resign over the debacle.
“If each time a major minister made a mistake they resigned, we’d shuttle via prime ministers like no person’s enterprise,” Miliband instructed the BBC.
Mandelson is below police investigation for suspected misconduct in public workplace after a trove of Epstein-related documents launched by the U.S. Justice Division in January included emails suggesting that Mandelson had handed on delicate — and doubtlessly market-moving — authorities info to Epstein in 2009, after the worldwide monetary disaster.
British police launched a legal investigation and arrested Mandelson in February. Mandelson has beforehand denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He doesn’t face allegations of sexual misconduct.
