UK’s Starmer to face grilling from MPs over Mandelson vetting scandal | EUROtoday

Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face lawmakers in parliament on Monday as he bids to quell anger over an unrelenting scandal involving long-time Jeffrey Epstein affiliate Peter Mandelson.

Starmer, already broadly unpopular with the general public and plenty of Labour MPs, is struggling to finish an issue that has threatened his grip on energy.

Fresh requires him to give up got here on Thursday when it was revealed that Mandelson – whose friendship with the late convicted intercourse offender was lengthy frequent information – turned Britain’s ambassador to the United States in late 2024 regardless of failing safety checks.

The beleaguered chief insisted Friday that he and different ministers weren’t informed Mandelson had failed the vetting course of, which he mentioned was “unforgivable”.

He is to present additional particulars in an announcement to the House of Commons from about 14:30 GMT on Monday, earlier than being grilled by MPs.

Starmer has blamed Foreign Office officers for permitting the appointment towards the recommendation of safety officers. He sacked the division’s high civil servant, Olly Robins, on Thursday.

Ex-civil servants have accused Starmer of scapegoating Robbins, who’s to present his personal account to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, in what might be a crunch week for Starmer’s virtually two-year-old premiership.

Opposition leaders have referred to as for Starmer to step down, with accusations starting from incompetence to wilful deceptive of parliamentarians and the general public.

Starmer informed parliament in February that “full due process” was adopted when Mandelson was vetted and cleared for the important thing position.

His Downing Street workplace insists that continues to be true as a result of authorities guidelines meant the Foreign Office had the ability to overrule vetting considerations, with out the information of Starmer and his high group.

On Friday, Downing Street took the weird step of releasing a memo which insisted that he solely came upon concerning the vetting failure on Tuesday final week.

Ministers have rallied round him over the weekend, with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and deputy prime minister David Lammy insisting Starmer wouldn’t have appointed Mandelson had the prime minister identified that he had not acquired the suitable clearance.

“I think he is an honest man and a man of integrity who says it was a mistake to appoint him (Mandelson),” Kendall informed Sky News.

Police probe

Kendall mentioned Starmer ought to stay in his job as a result of he had “made the right call” on massive points, reminiscent of constructing nearer relations with the European Union and limiting Britain’s involvement within the Iran battle.

Polls counsel Starmer is certainly one of Britain’s most unpopular prime ministers ever, partly due to a number of coverage missteps.

He has endured repeated questions on his judgement for choosing Mandelson and confronted down calls from Labour’s chief in Scotland to resign over the problem earlier this 12 months.

Starmer sacked Mandelson in September 2025 after new particulars emerged concerning the depth of the ex-envoy’s ties to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 whereas going through sex-trafficking costs.

UK police are investigating allegations of misconduct in workplace by Mandelson when he was a Labour minister greater than 15 years in the past. He was arrested and launched in February.

Mandelson, 72, has not been charged and denies legal wrongdoing.

Starmer and his Labour occasion are bracing for a chastening set of native elections subsequent month, together with within the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

The outcomes are more likely to renew questions on Starmer’s future, though there seems to be little urge for food inside Labour for a management problem proper now, with no apparent successor obtainable and battle raging within the Middle East.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)