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Starmer rejects calls to quit as pressure mounts over Mandelson vetting ...
Top Foreign Office official takes fall for fiasco and resigns; Starmer promises to deliver ‘relevant facts’ on Monday.Keir Starmer says he is “absolutely furious” that he was not informed that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting before being appointed UK envoy to Washington, as the United Kingdom prime minister faced renewed calls to resign over the affair.Starmer on Friday maintained that he was kept in the dark about the Foreign Office’s decision to overrule the recommendation of security officials not to give the job to the Labour Party grandee, who was fired in September over his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Macron and Starmer host allies for summit on Hormuz maritime securitylist 2 of 3UK’s Starmer under fire over report Mandelson failed security vettinglist 3 of 3UK’s Mandelson tried to get Epstein’s ‘goddaughter’ into 10 Downing Streetend of listStarmer, who has asserted he knew nothing about the vetting outcome, said that the Foreign Office’s failure to inform him, as prime minister, was “staggering” and “unforgivable”, pledging to “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to Parliament on Monday.The beleaguered prime minister said he only found out about the botched process on Tuesday, just before the revelations were published by The Guardian on Thursday, with top Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins ousted on the same day.Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said Friday that “the recommendation was to not appoint Peter Mandelson to the role,” and that the Foreign Office ignored it. He said that was “astonishing”, but within the rules.He said no government minister had been told of the security assessment, carried out by a department known as UK Security Vetting. People familiar with the process told The Associated Press that is standard practice because of the sensitive personal information involved, including “financial, personal, sexual, religious and other types of background information”.Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said claims the prime minister didn’t know were “completely preposterous”. “This story does not stack up. The prime minister is taking us for fools,” she told the BBC. “All roads lead to a resignation.”Starmer has repeatedly insisted that “due process” was followed in the appointment, which was announced in December 2024, with Mandelson taking up the post in February, 2025.He was sacked just seven mon...
Starmer rejects calls to resign over Mandelson appointment as pressure ...
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday resisted demands he resign over revelations that his scandal-tainted pick for U.K. ambassador to Washington was appointed despite failing security checks.Starmer says he was not informed that the Foreign Office had overruled the recommendation of security officials in early 2025 not to give Peter Mandelson the job. Many considered Mandelson a risky appointment because of his past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Starmer said he was “absolutely furious” that he had been kept in the dark, calling it staggering” and “unforgivable.” He said he would “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to Parliament on Monday.The top Foreign Office civil servant, Olly Robbins, took the fall for the decision and resigned.The prime minister’s job is in perilThe prime minister’s job has been endangered by his fateful decision to appoint Mandelson, a trade expert and elder statesman of the governing Labor Party, as envoy to the Trump administration. It was a calculated risk that backfired spectacularly, and could bring down the prime minister.Opposition politicians expressed disbelief that Starmer could have been unaware Mandelson had failed security vetting. Starmer’s office said he only found out this week.Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said Friday that “the recommendation was to not appoint Peter Mandelson to the role,” and that the Foreign Office ignored it. He said that was “astonishing,” but within the rules.He said no government minister had been told of the security assessment.Jones said the checks, carried out by a department known as U.K. Security Vetting, “go through financial, personal, sexual, religious and other types of background information, and that is why it is kept extremely private on a portal that only a few people have access to.”Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said claims the prime minister didn’t know were “completely preposterous.”“This story does not stack up. The prime minister is taking us for fools,” she told the BBC. “All roads lead to a resignation.”Ed Davey, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “must go” if he misled Parliament and lied to the British public. The Lib Dems asked the prime minister’s ethics adviser to investigate whether Starmer broke the government code of conduct by misleading Parliament.Starmer has repeatedly insisted that “due process” was followed in the appointment, whi...
Keir Starmer battles calls to resign over Peter Mandelson vetting
14 hours ago ... Conservatives refuse to accept prime minister's move to shift blame ... Sir Keir Starmer on Friday faced mounting pressure to quit over the Peter Mandelson ...
Starmer refuses to quit as Mandelson vetting scandal engulfs UK
MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to resign Friday despite mounting calls from opposition parties, as the Foreign Office's top civil servant stepped down over a deepening scandal involving the security vetting of former ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson. Speaking from a summit in France, Starmer said he was "absolutely furious" after learning the ...
