Starmer's future in question amid Labour fury at PM's handling of Mandelson scandal
The Prime Minister is facing a growing backlash over his appointment of Lord Mandelson despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Sir Keir Starmer's position as Prime Minister is being questioned by his own party over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as US Ambassador despite knowing about his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
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The PM is facing growing backlash with Labour after admitting he knew of Mandelson’s continued relationship with Epstein when appointing him as Britain's ambassador to the United States in 2024.
Amid fury at Starmer's revelation, a potential backbench rebellion forced the PM to hand over all files about Mandelson's security vetting to Parliament for release to the public.
Crucially, Sir Keir's Government must also hand over files to Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee for redaction, rather than being in control of the process itself.
The announcement came despite the Metropolitan Police asking the Government to withhold the files, stating that a release "could undermine our current investigation" into Mandelson over allegations of misconduct in a public office.
In response to the force's request, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisted the force had "no jurisdiction" over the House of Commons.
Earlier on Wednesday, Starmer told MPs he "regrets" appointing Mandelson as ambassador to the US during a heated Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs).
While admitting that he was aware of Mandelson's ongoing relationship with Epstein when appointing him, he claimed the "depth" of this was not known.
Sir Keir told the Commons: "I intend to make sure that all the material is published. The only exemptions are anything that would prejudice national security... or that would prejudice international relations."
He added: "I want to make sure this House sees the full documentation so it will see for itself the extent to which time and time again Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein and lied throughout the process, including in response to the due diligence."
Sir Keir also said he has discussed with the King that Mandelson “should be removed from the list of Privy Counsellors on grounds that he brought the reputation of the Privy Council into disrepute”.
He said the new revelations from the Epstein files are "beyond infuriating", and added that Mandelson "lied repeatedly" about his relationship with the disgraced financier.
But in the aftermath, Labour MP Andy McDonald said he thought it was "reasonable to expect an answer pretty damn quick" on how Lord Mandelson passed vetting.
Mr McDonald said: "It beggars belief that we could ever get a security vetting process that would sign off affirmatively on somebody in these circumstances."
The debate, brought to the Commons by the Conservatives, also saw Sir Keir's ousted deputy Angela Rayner break from the Government she left in September by appearing to back the Tory motion to move the decision to
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyme was met with shocked gasps in the chamber as she signalled her support for handing the files to the ISC.
The intervention has been interpreted by many as a direct challenge to Sir Keir, which could spell the beginning of the end for his premiership.
Wednesday's revelations by Sir Keir were met with fury, including by Labour peer Lord Hutton, who told LBC the scandal "could well mark the end of the Prime Minister's time in office."
He told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr: "The issue is the leadership from the Prime Minister, and I think unless it changes dramatically, the Government is in serious trouble."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told LBC on Wednesday that Mandelson has "betrayed his country" and Epstein's victims.
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Mr Streeting branded the former Labour peer "stupid, irresponsible and reckless".
A Cabinet Office minister set out how documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson would be released to the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).
Chris Ward said: “Release of information will be done, either through the Cabinet Secretary working with independent lawyers, or if the material is deemed to be potentially conflicting with national security or foreign relations, it will be handed to the ISC, who are independent. They can make the decision."
The decision was made despite Met Police Commander Ella Marriott, stating the force's desire to keep them private.
Ms Marriott said: "As with any investigation, securing and preserving any potential evidence is vital.
"For this reason, when approached by the UK Government today with their intent to publish material, we reviewed it immediately and advised that the release of specific documents could undermine our current investigation. We therefore asked them not to release certain documents at this time."
"Going forward, as material is made available to us, and if we identify further documents that we believe could prejudice our investigation, we will continue to ask the Government to pause their release until such time as the risk of prejudice no longer exists.
"The integrity of our investigation is paramount to securing justice. We are grateful for their cooperation.“We continue to assess all relevant information brought to our attention as part of this investigation."
Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from the Washington role in September last year over his links with Epstein.
He returned to the political frontline when Sir Keir appointed him to the Washington role, seeking a high-profile figure to deal with Donald Trump’s White House.
Mandelson, a key architect of New Labour, was appointed despite his prior friendship with Epstein being known, but he allegedly withheld the full extent of their contact from vetting authorities
A fuller picture of Mandelson and Epstein's ties has only been revealed through a series of disclosures by the US Department of Justice after Congress voted to compel them to release all files related to the dead paedophile.
The latest tranche of documents released last Friday appears to show Lord Mandelson passing potentially market-sensitive information to the financier in 2009 and 2010, while he was Business Secretary in Gordon Brown’s government