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TRANSCRIPT
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has once again rejected calls for his resignation, during a gruelling, two-and-a half hour session in the U-K's House of Commons.
At the centre of the mounting political scandal-- the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the US, despite his known ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Mandelson was sacked in September 2025, after the depth of his relationship with Epstein was made public.
Sir Keir has again admitted employing Mr Mandelson was a mistake.
"At the heart of this there is also a judgment I made that was wrong. I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson. I take responsibility for that decision and I apologise again to the victims of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein who were clearly failed by my decision."
Sir Keir has, however, maintained he was unaware of the extent of the relationship between Mr Mandelson and Epstein at the time of the appointment.
In recent days, a Guardian investigation revealed Mr Mandelson had failed the vetting process by UK security officials before formally stepping into the role of Ambassador.
Sir Keir claims he had no knowledge that the security office advised against granting vetting clearance for Mr Mandelson, or that this advice was overruled by the Foreign Office.
"Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday evening, the 14th of April, I found out for the first time that on the 29th of January 2025, before Peter Mandelson took up his position as ambassador, the Foreign Office officials granted him developed vetting clearance against the specific recommendation of the United Kingdom security vetting that developed vetting clearance should be denied."
Mr Starmer has accused the Foreign Office of deliberately, and repeatedly withholding this information from him and senior ministers.
Last week, after the vetting scandal became public, Mr Starmer sacked Olly Robbins, Britain's top foreign ministry official, who the Prime Minister said had signed off on the vetting clearance.
The UK Security Vetting ((UKSV)) process includes intrusive questions about finances, sexual history, health and family.
Sir Keir has said while sensitive personal information should not be divulged, there's no reason why the overall vetting recommendation was not shared with him.
"I accept that the sensitive personal information provided by an individual being vetted must be protected from disclosure. If that were not the case, the integrity of the whole process would be compromised. What I do not accept is that the appointing minister cannot be told of the recommendation by UKSV."
Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, says the Prime Minister has failed to take responsibility for his own actions.
"Everyone makes mistakes. It is how you face up to those mistakes that shows the character of a leader. Instead of taking responsibility for the decisions he made, the Prime Minister has thrown his staff and his officials under the bus. This is a man who once said, "I will carry the can for the mistakes of any organisation I lead."
Earlier, she accused the Prime Minister of knowingly misleading M-Ps last year, when he told Parliament full due process had been followed during Mr Mandelson's appointment.
“It doesn't matter which of the stories the Prime Minister has told us. He has lied, and that is resignation time. The fact is, he told us that Mandelson had been cleared by the security officials, that he passed security vetting. We now know that that is not true. That's misleading the country. It's a breach of the ministerial code. He told Parliament that full due process had been followed."
The Prime Minister has maintained he did not mislead Parliament, reiterating if he had known the vetting agency had denied security clearance of Mr Mandelson, he would not have gone ahead with the appointment.
The evolving saga has heaped pressure on the Prime Minister, whose popularity has sunk significantly since he won a landslide majority for Labour at a national election in 2024.
This latest development comes three weeks before local elections, in which Labour is expected to suffer heavy losses.
But, some Londoners say they expect the Prime Minister will maintain his position, despite declining trust in his leadership.
“It's I think he's doing quite terribly, but I do think that because of the parliamentary system we have, he will last until the next general election. No matter how unpopular he is after the locals as well, where Labour are going to get probably a big thrashing. I think Keir Starmer’s going to remain in place.”/ “I think he probably will survive. Obviously, we don’t know all of the details, there might be still some things that come out of it that we don't yet know, but I think that yeah, he's probably going to carry on for now and I'd expect him to continue as Prime Minister.”
For others, with every development, it becomes increasingly difficult to know what to expect.
“I honestly haven't got a clue. So it's really confusing to follow and it's very difficult to follow the reporting because different channels say different things. And I haven't got a clue.”
