Sir Keir Starmer has denied misleading Parliament following extraordinary revelations that Lord Peter Mandelson failed security vetting before his appointment as US ambassador.
The disclosures have sparked fresh questions about who knew what, and when, regarding the peer’s controversial Washington posting and its fallout.
Here is the timeline of events:
– December 20 2024 – Sir Keir says he is “delighted” to announce Lord Mandelson, a former New Labour minister and party grandee, as his pick for the UK’s ambassador to the US.
– January 8 2025 – Senior civil servant Sir Olly Robbins is made permanent secretary at the Foreign Office.
– January 28 2025 – A formal decision to deny Lord Mandelson security clearance is reportedly made by UK Security Vetting (UKSV).
– January 29 2025 – Foreign Office civil servants grant the peer developed vetting clearance despite the UKSV recommendation that this should be denied, Sir Keir told the Commons on Monday.
This enables him to see secret information in his new role.
– February 2025 – Lord Mandelson takes up the appointment and attends a White House welcome reception.
– September 8 2025 – Paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious “birthday book”, full of personalised notes from associates when he turned 50, is released by the US House Oversight Committee.
It includes a message from Lord Mandelson referring to the child sex offender as his “best pal”, heightening scrutiny of the UK Government.
– September 10 2025 – The Prime Minister says he has “confidence” in the peer and that “due process was followed” as questions mounted over the extent of the former Labour grandee’s links with Epstein.
Downing Street also points reporters to the “extensive vetting” of Lord Mandelson.
– September 11 2025 – Sir Keir sacks Lord Mandelson after growing pressure to remove him from office following leaked emails which showed the peer sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.
The Foreign Office said the emails showed “the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment”.
Meanwhile, the Independent online newspaper reported that MI6 had not cleared the ex-Labour grandee – claims which it put to No 10.
The paper reported that a spokesperson replied: “Vetting done by FCDO in normal way.”
– September 16 2025 – In a joint letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Whitehall veteran Sir Olly and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper say: “Peter Mandelson’s security vetting was conducted to the usual standard set for developed vetting in line with established Cabinet Office policy.”
– November 3 2025 – Sir Olly and former cabinet secretary and career civil servant Sir Chris Wormald appear before MPs to answer questions about the appointment process.
Sir Olly tells the Foreign Affairs Committee that “it was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself.”
“Therefore, I understand, the FCDO was informed of his decision and acted on it, and, via the Foreign Secretary, sought and obtained the King’s approval for the appointment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sir Chris said it was the “normal thing” for security clearance to happen after appointment but before the person signs a contract and takes up the post.
– February 2 2026 – Sir Keir urges the disgraced peer to quit the Lords after the publication of a further tranche of the so-called Epstein files, which lead to accusations that Lord Mandelson passed sensitive information to Epstein while he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
– February 3 2026 – The Metropolitan Police launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct in a public office following the accusations against Lord Mandelson.
– February 4 2026 – The Prime Minister tells the Commons Lord Mandelson “lied repeatedly” about the depth of his friendship with Epstein during the appointment process.
– February 5 2026 – Sir Keir tells reporters security vetting carried out by the security services “gave him (Lord Mandelson) clearance for the role” amid mounting pressure over the extent of what was known about his links with Epstein.
Sir Keir tells reporters: “There was then, I should add, security vetting carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role, and you have to go through that before you take up the post.
“Clearly, both the due diligence and the security vetting need to be looked at again.”
– February 8 2026 – Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, a long-time ally of Lord Mandelson, leaves No 10.
In his resignation statement, he says: “While I did not oversee the due diligence and vetting process, I believe that process must now be fundamentally overhauled.”
– March 11 2026 – The first tranche of documents are released in response to a Commons motion compelling the Government to disclose details about the appointment.
They reveal senior officials had concerns about the appointment, with national security adviser Jonathan Powell believing the process was “weirdly rushed”.
The files showed that Sir Keir was warned of a “general reputational risk” over Lord Mandelson’s link to Epstein before announcing him as his choice.
Also in the documents is a note dated November 11 2024, in which then-cabinet secretary Lord Simon Case appeared to advise the Prime Minister to arrange for security clearances to be done “before confirming your choice” for US ambassador if he wanted to make a political appointment.
The head of the Civil Service said: “You should give us the name of the person you would like to appoint and we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential conflicts of interest or other issues of which you should be aware before confirming your choice.”
– April 16 2026 – The Guardian newspaper reports Lord Mandelson failed the background check by security officials but that Foreign Office officials took the rare step of overruling the decision.
Sir Olly is sacked and the Government says Sir Keir was not aware the former Labour grandee was granted developed vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier that week.
– April 17 2026 – Sir Keir says he is “furious” and that it was “unforgivable” he had not been told that UKSV had advised against clearance.
– April 20 2026 – In a statement to the Commons, the Prime Minister says a “deliberate decision” was made on “repeated occasions” not to tell him that Lord Mandelson failed to pass vetting, blaming Foreign Office officials for not passing on the information.
He says he would not have proceeded with the appointment if he had known UKSV had declined to approve the peer, which he said he only learnt on Tuesday last week.
Sir Keir also said: “I did not mislead the House of Commons. I accept that information that I should have had, and information that the House should have had should have been before the House, but I did not mislead the House, and that’s why I’ve set out the account in full.”
– April 21 2026 – Sir Olly will give his account to MPs when he appears before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
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