Pressure is mounting as Starmer rejects calls to resign over Mandelson’s appointment in the Epstein fallout

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday resisted calls for his resignation after it was revealed that his scandal-tainted ambassador had been appointed to the position of U.K. ambassador to Washington despite failed security checks.

Starmer says he has not been informed that the Foreign Office has overturned security officials’ recommendation in early 2025 not to give Peter Mandelson the job. Many viewed Mandelson’s appointment as risky due to his past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer said he was “extremely angry” to have been kept in the dark, describing it as “shocking” and “unforgivable”. He said he would “present all relevant facts with real transparency” to Parliament on Monday.

Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office’s senior civil servant, took responsibility for the decision and resigned.

The Prime Minister’s job is in danger

The Prime Minister’s job was jeopardized by his fateful decision to appoint Mandelson, a trade expert and prominent statesman in the ruling Labor Party, as an envoy for the Trump administration. It was a calculated risk that backfired spectacularly and could bring down the prime minister.

He watches: Trump ‘ok’ with public hearings for Epstein survivors

Opposition politicians expressed disbelief that Starmer may not have been aware that Mandelson had failed the security check. Starmer’s office said it only found out this week.

Darren Jones, the prime minister’s first secretary, said on Friday that “the recommendation was not to appoint Peter Mandelson to the position” and that the Foreign Office had ignored it. He said it was “amazing”, but within the rules.

He added that no minister was informed of the security assessment.

Jones said the checks, conducted by a department known as UK Security Vetting, “go through financial, personal, sexual, religious and other types of basic information, which is why they remain so secret on a portal that only a small number of people have access to.”

Leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, said the allegations, which the Prime Minister did not know about, were “completely preposterous.”

She told the BBC: “This story is not true. The prime minister considers us fools.” “All roads lead to resignation”

Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “must go” if he misled Parliament and lied to the British people. The Liberal Democrats have asked the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser to investigate whether Starmer breached the government’s code of conduct by misleading Parliament.

Starmer repeatedly insisted that “due process” was followed in the appointment, which was announced in December 2024. Mandelson took up the Washington post in February 2025, after undergoing security vetting.

Mandelson knew of Epstein’s connections

Peter Mandelson, British ambassador to the United States, seen in London in June. Photography by Jimmy Joy – Reuters

Mandelson’s experience as a former EU trade chief was considered a major asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to impose heavy tariffs on British goods, and it appeared to bear fruit when the countries concluded a trade agreement in May 2025.

But documents published by the government in March, after Parliament forced it to do so, showed that Starmer ignored red flags raised by his staff about the appointment. He was warned that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, exposed the government to “reputational risk”.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that he had lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.

The US Department of Justice’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein in January was more interesting and showed that Mandelson’s relationship with the financier continued even after Epstein was convicted in 2008 of sex crimes involving a minor.

The emails indicated that Mandelson passed sensitive, and potentially market-influencing, government information to Epstein in 2009 after the global financial crisis.

British police then launched a criminal investigation. Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He has been released without bail as police investigations continue. Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged. He does not face charges of sexual misconduct.

King Charles III’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is also under police investigation over his friendship with Epstein. He was also arrested but not charged.

Starmer’s latest setbacks

The Prime Minister apologized to the British people and to Epstein’s victims for believing what he called “Mandelson’s lies.”

The Mandelson revelations are among a series of setbacks Starmer has faced since leading Labor to a landslide election victory in July 2024. He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, fix tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has faced many missteps and detours.

The Prime Minister defused a potential crisis in February, when some Labor lawmakers called on him to resign over Mandelson’s appointment. But he may face a leadership challenge after local and regional elections scheduled for May 7, in which the Labor Party is expected to perform poorly.

Despite his struggles on the home front, Starmer has been praised for his work on the world stage. He has played a key role in maintaining European support for Ukraine, and was in Paris on Friday to host a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the oil shipping route choked by the US-Israel war on Iran.