Embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer was to face lawmakers in parliament on Monday as he bids to quell anger over an unrelenting scandal involving long-time Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson, who was the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
Starmer, already widely unpopular with the public and many Labour MPs, is struggling to manage a controversy that has threatened his grip on power.
He faced fresh calls to quit last week after it was revealed that Mandelson -- whose friendship with the late convicted US sex offender was long known -- became Britain’s envoy to Washington last year despite failing security checks.
Starmer has insisted that he and other ministers were not told until last week that Mandelson had failed the independent vetting process, which he has branded “unforgivable”.
Starmer will give further details in a statement in parliament from about 3:30 pm (1530 GMT) Monday, before being grilled by MPs.
“It’s absolutely the case that had the prime minister been aware that UK Security Vetting had recommended against his security clearance, then clearly he would not have appointed Peter Mandelson,” his spokesman told reporters Monday.
He added that Starmer would face MPs “with all the information and explain what happened”.
Starmer has blamed Foreign Office officials for allowing the appointment to proceed 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 will give his own account to a parliamentary watchdog committee on Tuesday.
Opposition leaders have called for the centre-left Labour leader 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 has insisted 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.
It has also argued no laws prevent officials from “sensibly flagging” vetting recommendations to help ministers make judgements.
Senior ministers have so far rallied around Starmer.
“A judgement was made that the Trump administration was an unconventional administration and an unconventional ambassador could do a job for the United Kingdom,” Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander Secretary said Monday.
“That judgement was wrong and the prime minister accepts that”.
Other ministers have noted Starmer should remain in power amid the global tumult sparked by the Middle East war and other big issues, including forging closer relations with the European Union.
But polls suggest Starmer is one of Britain’s most unpopular prime ministers ever.
If Starmer had known about the failed vetting “then he has to go he has to resign,” retired dentist Andrews Connell, 59, told AFP.
“If he knew that’s really bad. If he didn’t know, he should have known.”
Pensioner Lyndia Shaw, 73, agreed saying Starmer is “absolutely hopeless, hopeless, and I feel that yes Mandelson should face the full force of the law without doubt”.
But retiree Duncan Moss, 67, said he would be “very worried if Starmer was to leave and to not run the country. I think he’s doing a very good job. I think he’s a very mature, experienced leader”.
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, 72, when he was a Labour minister more than 15 years ago. He was arrested and released in February.
Mandelson has not been charged and denies criminal wrongdoing.
Starmer and his Labour party are also bracing for a chastening set of local elections next month, including in the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
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