Sir Keir Starmer has avoided confirming whether he spoke to Peter Mandelson about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him as the UK's ambassador to the US.
According to The Times, the prime minister did not speak to Lord Mandelson prior to his appointment, instead asking his then chief of staff Morgan McSweeney to question the peer about his links to Epstein.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch repeatedly pressed Sir Keir on his actions ahead of the appointment during Prime Minister's Questions, saying the prime minister tried to avoid scrutiny on the Mandelson files by releasing the documents immediately after the previous week's Prime Minister's Questions.
Response From Authorities
Sir Keir apologized for the appointment and stated that the matter of process was looked at by the independent adviser on ministerial standards, and that the appointment process wasn't strong enough, which is why he's already strengthened it.
Badenoch accused Sir Keir of outsourcing decisions to his staff and failing to be straight with MPs, and said he should follow suit and apologize for his gross error of judgement in handling the appointment.
Investigation and Documents
Documents released last week revealed the prime minister was warned that Lord Mandelson's relationship with Epstein posed a "reputational risk", and included a reference to a 2019 report commissioned by US bank JP Morgan which said Epstein appeared to "maintain a particularly close relationship" with Lord Mandelson.
Lord Mandelson was sacked as ambassador last September following new information about his friendship with Epstein, and maintains that he did not lie to the prime minister and answered written questions about his contact with the sex offender truthfully and fully.
