LONDON
\nBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses parliament on Monday, facing calls to resign over the despatch of senior Labour party veteran Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, even though he had failed a vetting process.
\nMandelson, 72, was sacked in September after revelations about the depth of his ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Starmer apologized for appointing him in the first place.
\nBut the government said last week it had found out that Mandelson had failed a security vetting process carried out before he \u200ctook up his \u200cpost in February 2025, heaping pressure on Starmer, whose popularity \u200chas sunk since he won a huge majority for Labour at a national election in 2024. Foreign ministry official sacked over Mandelson vetting
\nStarmer, who had previously told parliament all due process had been followed over Mandelson, has said it was unforgivable he was not told about the vetting failure until last week. Top foreign ministry official Olly Robbins was subsequently sacked. Starmer said he would \u201cset out the relevant facts\u201d to lawmakers on Monday.
\n while Robbins is due to give evidence to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
\nOpponent\u2019s \u200chave accused Starmer of lying and incompetence, and \u200csay his position is no longer tenable. Three weeks before local elections in which Labour \u200cis expected to suffer heavy losses, the resurgence of the scandal has triggered new \u200cquestions about Starmer\u2019s grip on government, although no senior Labour lawmakers have urged him to go.
\nAsked on Monday whether he expected Starmer to lead Labour into the next national election, Scotland Minister Douglas Alexander said: \u201cI think he will lead, and I think he should.\u201dBut he \u200ctold Sky News: \u201cI think that there are rightfully and reasonably important questions that need to be answered today.\u201d
\nOpponents say Starmer at fault over MandelsonEd Davey, the Liberal Democrats\u2019 leader, said Starmer had shown \u201ccatastrophic misjudgment.\u201d Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, said he had at best been recklessly negligent.
\n\u201cThis has been a tawdry and shaming affair for you and your party, and for this country,\u201d she said in an open letter sent on Sunday. \u201cNot only have you damaged our relationship with the United States and insulted the victims of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but you have also undermined our national security by giving the highest diplomatic post to an individual that the security services found to be of \u2018high concern\u2019.\u201d
\nDeputy Prime Minister David Lammy and technology minister Liz Kendall both said at the weekend that Starmer would not have allowed Mandelson to take up his post if he had known about the vetting failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses parliament on Monday, facing calls to resign over the despatch of senior Labour party veteran Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, even though he had failed a vetting process. Mandelson, 72, was sacked in September after revelations about the depth of his ties to the late US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-542958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n