KEIR Starmer has refused to commit to publishing vetting documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador amid the growing scandal around his friendship with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Prime Minister faced calls in the Commons on Wednesday to come clean about what he knew about the pair’s friendship after the issue was reignited by the revelation that Lord Mandelson had called Epstein his “best pal” in a birthday message.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said that extensive vetting would have been carried out on Lord Mandelson’s background, which she claimed would have turned up his “intimate” friendship with the disgraced late financier.
Starmer refused to budge and said repeatedly he had confidence in the ambassador, who he insisted was “playing an important role in the UK-US relationship”.
Badenoch noted that Epstein had been charged in 2019 of child sex offences which took place between 2002 and 2005, “the precise period which Lord Mandelson (below) called Jeffrey Epstein his best pal”, and demanded to know whether Starmer was “aware of this intimate relationship when he appointed Lord Mandelson to be our ambassador in Washington”.
Starmer replied: “As she and the House would expect, full due process was followed during this appointment, as it is with all ambassadors.”
He noted that Lord Mandelson had expressed “deep regret” about his friendship with Epstein.
Badenoch claimed Starmer’s failure to answer directly “indicates that he probably did know”, adding: “I wasn’t asking a question about process. I was asking a question about his judgment.
“The Daily Telegraph reports today, that while Lord Mandelson was business secretary, he brokered a deal with Jeffrey Epstein, while he was business secretary. And that this occurred after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences.
“Given this new information, does the Prime Minister really think it is tenable for our ambassador to remain in post?”
The Prime Minister replied: “The relationship between the US and the UK is one of our foremost relationships, and I have confidence in the ambassador in the role that he is doing.”
The Tory leader called on Starmer to publish what information the Government had gathered on Lord Mandelson and his connections with Epstein, saying: “I think it is embarrassing that the Prime Minister is still saying that he has confidence in a man who was brokering deals with convicted child sex offenders while sitting in government. That is a disgrace.
“This Government has repeatedly – repeatedly – refused to declare Lord Mandelson’s full interests, and as part of the appointment, there will have been extensive Government vetting, including details and timings of Peter Mandelson’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.
“So will the Prime Minister publish all these documents, including those about his interests?”
Starmer replied: “Well, as I say, full due process was gone through in relation to this appointment, as would be expected.
“As for the publication of documents, as she well knows, that’s subject to a procedure which includes an independent element. It will be subject to the usual procedures.”
It came as Lord Mandelson predicted that more details about his involvement with Epstein, a child sex trafficker, would come to light.
He told The Sun: "I have no doubt at all that there's a lot of traffic, correspondence changes between us absolutely. And we know those are going to surface. We know they're going to come out.
"We know they're going to be very embarrassing, and they know that I'm going to profoundly regret ever having met him and been introduced to him in the first place.”
He continued to insist that he had been "conned" by a man he described as a "charismatic criminal liar", adding: "I never sought and nor did he offer any introductions to women in the way that allegedly he did for others.
"Perhaps it's because I'm a gay man, perhaps when I knew him in all those years, perhaps when I was associated with him those years ago, as I did with my then partner and now husband, we never, ever saw any evidence or sign of this activity, which has since come to life.”
