UK prime minister accuses officials of hiding Mandelson security clearance failure

UK prime minister Keir Starmer has accused government officials of deliberately concealing the fact that Peter Mandelson, his pick for ambassador to Washington, had failed a security clearance, BNS reports.

Addressing parliament on Monday, Starmer denied misleading lawmakers over Mandelson’s appointment but admitted his decision to nominate the former Labour minister was wrong. The 72-year-old Mandelson, a longtime political figure, had twice resigned from government roles and was previously linked to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

“At the heart of this scandal is my wrong decision. I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson,” Starmer told MPs, as the controversy threatens his leadership. Polls already rank him among the UK’s least popular prime ministers, with some Labour MPs also critical of his handling of the affair.

Starmer claimed he and other ministers were only informed last week that Mandelson’s security clearance had been denied, despite the process concluding earlier. “It is hard to believe that throughout this entire sequence of events, officials in the Foreign Office thought it appropriate to withhold this information from the highest levels of our system, from government ministers,” he said.

He insisted the failure to disclose was “a deliberate decision, not an oversight,” adding: “I was not given information that should have been given. Had I been, I would not have made that decision.”

The row escalated after emails revealed Mandelson remained in contact with Epstein even after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offences. Two MPs—one from the left-wing Your Party and another from the far-right Reform UK—were ejected from the chamber for accusing Starmer of lying and refusing to withdraw their remarks.

Starmer last week dismissed the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Olly Robbins, and announced a review of the vetting process. Former officials have since accused him of making Robbins a “scapegoat.” Robbins is set to testify before a parliamentary oversight committee on Tuesday.

Opposition leaders have called for Starmer’s resignation, with allegations ranging from incompetence to deliberate deception. However, senior ministers continue to back him, arguing his leadership is vital amid global instability. Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander defended the appointment by stating: “It was decided that the Trump administration was an unconventional administration, and an unconventional ambassador could do a job for the UK.”

Mandelson, a dominant figure in Labour politics for decades, had sent messages of support to Epstein during the 2008 US investigation into his sex crimes. The fallout from the failed appointment has become the most serious crisis of Starmer’s 19 months in office.