The former head of MI6 has slammed Sir Keir Starmer’s “appalling judgement” over appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador despite the peer’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sir Richard Dearlove said senior diplomats must go through the “highest level of vetting” and insisted that Lord Mandelson had either misled officials during his interviews or "there was a massive misjudgement made".
It comes after allies of the Labour grandee said that during the vetting process for the job he had admitted that he continued his friendship with Epstein for many years.
Lord Mandelson was sacked on Thursday after emails emerged in which the peer offered support to the paedophile even as he faced jail for sex offences against minors.
His departure follows several high-profile resignations from Sir Keir’s Government, including his deputy Angela Rayner who quit last week over a tax scandal, that have called into question the PM’s political judgement.
Sir Richard told LBC on Friday: “He would have been interviewed or should have been interviewed and one of the questions that would have been put is: 'Is there anything in your background that we don't already know about that would bring the office of ambassador into disrepute? The country into disrepute?'
"Either he didn't [mention his relationship with Epstein], in which case he was lying or he did and there was a massive misjudgment made in appointing him Ambassador because they had in front of them, let's say, the example of Prince Andrew, whose life has been ruined by a relationship with this man.
"So you couldn't say that no one had worked it out...it's pretty clear cut either way. It was appalling judgement in appointing him."
Labour backbenchers have expressed anger at Sir Keir's handling of the row over Lord Mandelson.
Sir Keir’s critics have also turned their fire on the PM’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney who was instrumental in the appointment.
One Labour MP told the Times it “should have been obvious long before” Thursday that Lord Mandelson had to go, saying: “The real question is whether Keir will sack Morgan McSweeney. Mandelson was McSweeney’s pick, and it’s proved to be a colossal misjudgement.”
Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander said, "nothing justifies" Lord Mandelson's appointment "in light of what has now emerged".
But he insisted that the PM would not have appointed him knowing the details of the relationship.
"Many of us were devastated by Angela Rayner's departure from the Government last week,” he told the BBC.
"She's an extraordinary woman who's overcome the most extraordinary challenges and we are grieving and feel quite acutely that sense of loss.
"Now to have the dismissal of Peter Mandelson just the next week, I totally get it, of course Labour MPs will be despondent that in two weeks in a row we have seen significant resignations from public service.
"These are not the headlines any of us in Government or in Parliament would have chosen or wanted. But the fact is when the evidence emerged, action had to be taken and we are looking forward, therefore, to moving on."
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday Sir Keir said he had "full confidence" in Lord Mandelson before the emails were published.
He now faces questions over what he knew and when about the ex-ambassador's ties to Epstein.
Lord Mandelson reportedly refused to resign and felt let down by Sir Keir’s decision to sack him.
Allies of the peer told the Times he admitted in the vetting process for the ambassador job that he had carried on his relationship with Epstein for many years and deeply regretted doing so.
Asked about what information had emerged during Lord Mandelson's appointment, Mr Alexander said he was not aware of the details as vetting was "necessarily a secret matter".
Lord Mandelson's friendship with Epstein was known prior to his appointment but reports in The Sun and Bloomberg showed their relationship had continued after the disgraced financiers crimes had emerged.
Emails published on Wednesday afternoon included passages in which Lord Mandelson had told Epstein to "fight for early release" shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein "I think the world of you" the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
Arguing that the emails had provided "materially new information" that exposed "manifest weaknesses" in Lord Mandelson's judgment, Mr Alexander said: "When that reached the Prime Minister's desk, he acted and dismissed the ambassador."
He added that Lord Mandelson's original appointment had been a "political judgment" that an "unconventional ambassador" was needed to deal with an "unconventional presidential administration" under Donald Trump.
