LONDON, April 20 — Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face lawmakers in parliament today as he bids to quell anger over an unrelenting scandal involving long-time Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson.
Starmer, already widely unpopular with the public and many Labour MPs, is struggling to end a controversy that has threatened his grip on power.
Fresh calls for him to quit came on Thursday when it was revealed that Mandelson -- whose friendship with the late convicted sex offender was long common knowledge -- became Britain’s ambassador to the United States in late 2024 despite failing security checks.
The beleaguered leader insisted Friday that he and other ministers were not told Mandelson had failed the vetting process, which he said was “unforgivable”.
He is to give further details in a statement to the House of Commons from about 1430 GMT today, before being grilled by MPs.
Starmer has blamed Foreign Office officials for allowing the appointment against the advice of security officials. He sacked the department’s top civil servant, Olly Robins, on Thursday.
Ex-civil servants have accused Starmer of scapegoating Robbins, who is to give his own account to a parliamentary committee tomorrow, in what could be a crunch week for Starmer’s almost two-year-old premiership.
Opposition leaders have called for Starmer to step down, with accusations ranging from incompetence to wilful misleading of parliamentarians and the public.
Starmer told parliament in February that “full due process” was followed when Mandelson was vetted and cleared for the key role.
His Downing Street office insists that remains true because government rules meant the Foreign Office had the power to overrule vetting concerns, without the knowledge of Starmer and his top team.
On Friday, Downing Street took the unusual step of releasing a memo which insisted that he only found out about the vetting failure on Tuesday last week.
Ministers have rallied around him over the weekend, with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and deputy prime minister David Lammy insisting Starmer would not have appointed Mandelson had the prime minister known that he had not received the appropriate clearance.
“I think he is an honest man and a man of integrity who says it was a mistake to appoint him (Mandelson),” Kendall told Sky News.
Police probe
Kendall said Starmer should remain in his job because he had “made the right call” on big issues, such as building closer relations with the European Union and limiting Britain’s involvement in the Iran war.
Polls suggest Starmer is one of Britain’s most unpopular prime ministers ever, in part because of several policy missteps.
He has endured repeated questions about his judgement for selecting Mandelson and faced down calls from Labour’s leader in Scotland to resign over the issue earlier this year.
Starmer sacked Mandelson in September 2025 after new details emerged about the depth of the ex-envoy’s ties to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges.
UK police are investigating allegations of misconduct in office by Mandelson when he was a Labour minister more than 15 years ago. He was arrested and released in February.
Mandelson, 72, has not been charged and denies criminal wrongdoing.
Starmer and his Labour party are bracing for a chastening set of local elections next month, including in the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
The results are likely to renew questions about Starmer’s future, although there appears to be little appetite within Labour for a leadership challenge right now, with no obvious successor available and war raging in the Middle East. — AFP
