LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starr faced calls to resign Thursday after it emerged that Peter Mandelson had been denied security clearance for the post of ambassador to the United States, which ultimately led to him being fired over his close ties to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Following revelations in the Guardian newspaper, the government said Starr was unaware that the Foreign Office had waived the security clearance process for Mandelson to become Britain’s ambassador to Washington “until earlier this week.”
Starmer had previously insisted that due process had been followed in the appointment, and that Mandelson, who was fired in September 2025, had lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.
Once Starr was notified, a government spokesman said the Prime Minister “immediately directed officials to establish the facts as to why the developed tests were provided in order to implement plans to update the House of Commons.”
Opposition MPs said Starr should resign if he had misled Parliament.
Kimi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, said Starr was “definitely in resignation territory”, while centrist Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said Starr “must go” if he misled parliament and lied to the British people.
Stammer’s premiership faced its biggest crisis in February. The U.S. Department of Justice revealed the closeness of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein after releasing millions of pages of Epstein-related documents.
In particular, Starmer’s political judgment was questioned after emails in the Epstein files were released by the US government when Mandelson passed sensitive – and potentially market-moving – government information to the disgraced financier in 2009, when he was a member of the Labor government.
Starr has repeatedly apologized to the British public and Epstein’s sex trafficking victims for what he believed to be “Mandelsohn’s lies”. During his apology, he said the necessary vetting rules for appointing someone to the plum job of US ambassador, both in and out of Parliament, had been followed.
British police later launched a criminal investigation, searching two of Mandelson’s homes in London and western England. Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on charges of misconduct in public office. After more than nine hours of questioning, he was released on bail the next morning.
Mandelson, who denies any wrongdoing, has not been charged.
Days before Mandelson’s arrest, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was also arrested on the same charges. Like Mandelson, the younger brother of King Charles III was a close associate of Epstein.
In late 2024, Starr appointed Mandelson to the post of ambassador, despite being aware of her previous relationship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019. Mandelson’s trade expertise was considered a key asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to impose heavy tariffs on British goods, and it looked set to pay off when the countries struck a trade deal a few months later.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September over the earlier disclosure of her relationship with Epstein.
British documents released since the release of the Epstein files, including some related to the trial process, confirmed that Starr chose Mandelson despite warning the government that it would be at “reputational risk”. The government said it would release more documents related to Mandelson’s appointment after Parliament forced it to do so.
