Sir Keir Starmer was warned that making Peter Mandelson US ambassador carried a “reputational risk” due to the peer’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, newly released papers show.
Despite being informed of Mandelson’s apparently close relationship with Epstein – whom Mandelson described as a “friend” – and the fact that he stayed in the disgraced financier’s house after his conviction for sex offences, the Prime Minister appointed the Labour grandee to the Washington job days later.
Starmer did try to investigate Mandelson beyond the official vetting that was revealed on Wednesday about his links with Epstein, with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quizzing the peer.
Shorts
But Starmer proceeded to appoint Mandelson after the PM’s communications director Matthew Doyle – revealed in the papers as a “personal friend” of Mandelson – said he was “satisfied” with the peer’s answers.
