Keir Starmer has been accused of misleading MPs over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador following reports he failed crucial security vetting– but was given the job anyway.
Lord Mandelson was denied critical clearance after the prime minister announced he would be sent to Washington, but the Foreign Office took the rare step of overruling the recommendation, according to The Guardian.
The disgraced Labour peer was sacked months later over his links to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and is now facing a police inquiry over claims he leaked sensitive government documents to Epstein when he was business secretary.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of misleading MPs over his appointment.
She said the prime minister had told Parliament three times that the full due process had been followed over Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
“We now know the prime minister misled the House,” she said. “The prime minister must take responsibility.”
The latest claim comes after The Independent reported last September that there were concerns Lord Mandelson had not cleared vetting due to concerns over his business links to China and fears that his past links to Epstein “would compromise him”.
Lord Mandelson was the first political appointment, rather than career diplomat, in the job in decades.
He was fired last September when more details emerged about his relationship with convicted sex offender Epstein, who died in 2019.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Keir Starmer had already made a catastrophic error of judgment. Now it looks as though he has also misled Parliament and lied to the British public. If that is the case, he must go.
“Labour came into government on a promise to clean up politics. Instead we’re seeing the same old sleaze, scandal and cover-ups as we did under the Conservatives.”
The Green Party called on Sir Keir to resign, accusing him of having “lied and lied again”.
Green Party MP Sian Berry said: “He must resign. Starmer told Parliament ‘due process’ had been followed. This report makes clear that was untrue.
“He has tried to blame the vetting process, when in fact it is reported that a decision was taken to ignore a failed vetting. We need answers on what and when Starmer and David Lammy knew about this decision to overrule the vetting report.”
She also called for the “precise reasons” Mandelson failed the vetting to be made public.
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