UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been mired in scandal over the political appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, after the Epstein files revealed his close and enduring friendship with the late paedophile financier.
Mandelson was forced to resign in February and was later arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he passed on market-sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein.
Then, senior civil servant Olly Robbins was fired from his post in the foreign office after being blamed for not informing the prime minister that Mandelson had failed security vetting.
Starmer’s former chief of staff and the man regarded as the mastermind of his campaign to become first Labour leader then prime minister, Morgan McSweeney, also resigned in February over his decision to appoint Mandelson.
McSweeney and Robbins have both appeared before the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, where they were questioned over the procedure that led to Mandelson taking up a role in public office without adequate due diligence.
