Several opposition parties called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign on Thursday, following new reports of the appointment of former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson despite his links to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
The Guardian newspaper revealed on Thursday that the Foreign Office had granted Peter Mandelson a security clearance in January 2025 despite an unfavorable opinion from the service responsible for checking his background.
“Senior officials” from the Foreign Office decided to go “against the recommendation” of this service, confirmed Thursday a spokesperson for Keir Starmer, who affirmed that neither the Prime Minister nor any member of his government “were aware” of this decision “before the start of the week”.
The Foreign Office said through a spokesperson that it was “working urgently” to provide answers on the granting of this authorization.
The leader of the conservative opposition, Kemi Badenoch, said on X that “Starmer has betrayed national security” and “must resign”.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, said that “if Keir Starmer misled Parliament and lied to the British people, he must go”.
The Prime Minister, who sacked Peter Mandelson in September 2025, accused the ex-ambassador of having “repeatedly lied” to Downing Street about the extent of his links with the sex criminal.
This affair has weakened the head of the British government, the target of criticism for several months due to his decision to appoint this friend of the American financier, who died in prison in 2019, to one of the most prestigious positions in British diplomacy.
Keir Starmer’s spokesperson reaffirmed on Thursday the government’s determination to publish the documents relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson, a first series of which was made public in March.
They revealed that the Prime Minister had been warned of the “reputational risk” posed by Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him.
British police opened an investigation and searched two residences of the ex-ambassador in February, after the publication of new documents from the Epstein files, published at the end of January by the American Department of Justice.
The latter suggest that Peter Mandelson would have transmitted information to the financier likely to influence the markets, notably when he was a minister in the government of Gordon Brown, from 2008 to 2010.
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