Embattled British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has shut down suggestions that he may resign amid the growing scandal over the government’s failure to properly vet Peter Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein before his appointment as London’s Ambassador to the United States.
Earlier this month, ‘Prince of Darkness’ Peter Mandelson — a longtime leading Labour Party figure of the Tony Blair era — was sacked from his role as Ambassador to Washington after emails emerged documenting his close relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein. The communications reportedly included Mandelson urging Epstein to “fight for early release” on the day before he was sent to prison in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor, according to The Sun.
“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” Mandelson reportedly wrote, and added: “You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release… Your friends stay with you and love you.”
The emails also contained images of the two men together, including one of Mandelson in a bathrobe. The Labour bigwig is also said to have described Epstein as his “best pal”.
The BBC has reported that Downing Street officials said that the emails were sent from an old email account, which Mandelson had lost access to, and thus did not emerge earlier. Nevertheless, the scandal has engulfed Westminster, with Prime Minister Starmer admitting that he knew of their existence even while publicly defending Mandelson.
Starmer has maintained that he was not made aware of the specifics of the emails at the time. However, it has also emerged that Mandelson was not vetted to the normal scrutiny for such a high-ranking post. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has admitted that the Foreign Office was not involved in the ethics investigation into Mandelson before his appointment as ambassador and that national security vetting only took place after he was put in position.
Despite such failures, Prime Minister Starmer defended his position and said that he will not step down over the scandal, according to The Telegraph.
In an interview on Monday evening, Starmer remarked: “I am angry. I don’t particularly think anger helps here, but I feel let down. I feel that the process was gone through and now information has come to light which had I known it at the time, I wouldn’t have appointed him.
When asked specifically if he would resign, the Prime Minister said: “No, because I’m absolutely clear what the task is in front of me, we have a crossroads really in terms of the future of this country.”
Yet, the pressure has continued to mount on Tuesday, with reports emerging that Labour Party backbenchers in the parliament have expressed that Starmer may have to resign by the May elections if the government cannot turn around its dwindling level of public support.
The House of Commons also gathered on Tuesday to debate the issue of Mandelson’s appointment. Former Conservative Brexit Secretary Sir David Davis said, per The Times, that the affair has “diminished the standing of our prime minister”.
The former minister said that he believed a double standard was applied to Mandelson, given that he was “Labour royalty” and that it should “not take James Bond” to have known to investigate his ties with Epstein.
Davis added that, despite supposedly being a servant of the public, Mandelson was “beholden” to others, saying “that was displayed time and again as he sought to use his position to curry favour with very wealthy and very powerful people who are either current or future benefactors”.
In addition to his close personal ties with Epstein, Mandelson is also alleged, according to The Telegraph, to have brokered a £1 billion business deal with the convicted pedophile months after he was released from prison and while Mandelson was serving as business secretary in the left-wing Gordon Brown government.
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