British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced calls Thursday to resign after it emerged that Peter Mandelson was initially denied security clearance for the ambassadorial position to the United States, from which he was eventually fired because of his close ties to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Following the revelations in The Guardian, the government said Starmer was not aware that the Foreign Office had revoked Mendelsohn’s security vetting process to become the UK ambassador to Washington “until earlier this week”.

Starmer had previously insisted that due process was followed in the appointment, and that Mandelson, who was fired in September 2025, lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.

Once Starmer was informed, a government spokesman said the prime minister “immediately instructed officials to check the facts about why the cutting-edge scrutiny was granted, in order to enact plans to modernize the House of Commons.”

Opposition MPs said Starmer should resign if he misled Parliament.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, said Starmer was “definitely in resignation territory”, while Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “must go” if he misled Parliament and lied to the British public.

Starmer’s premiership faced its biggest crisis in February after the US Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein showed how close Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was.

In particular, Starmer’s political judgment was called into question after emails in the Epstein files released by the US government suggested that Mandelson passed sensitive government – and potentially market-moving – information to the disgraced financier in 2009, when he was a member of the Labor government.

Starmer has repeatedly apologized to the British people and to the victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking for believing what he called “Mandelson’s lies.” Throughout his apologies, he said inside and outside Parliament that necessary vetting rules regarding appointing someone to the position of US ambassador were followed.

British police then launched a criminal investigation and searched two of Mandelson’s homes in London and western England. Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released on bail the next morning after more than nine hours of questioning.

Mandelson, who has denied doing anything inappropriate, has not been charged.

Days before Mandelson’s arrest, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was also arrested on the same charge. Like Mandelson, the younger brother of King Charles III was a close associate of Epstein.

In late 2024, Starmer appointed Mandelson to the ambassadorial position, despite knowing of his previous relationship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019. Mandelson’s business experience was considered a key asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to impose heavy tariffs on British goods, and it appeared to pay off when the two countries struck a trade deal a few months later.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September over earlier revelations about his links to Epstein.

British documents revealed since the Epstein files were published, including some relating to the audit, have confirmed that Starmer chose Mandelson despite warnings that it would expose the government to “reputational risk”. The government says it will publish another set of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment, after Parliament forced it to do so.