UK PM apologises for Mandelson appointment amid vetting fury

Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised for his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington, as he criticised civil servants for failing to inform him that the Labour grandee had failed security vetting.

- Associated Press

“I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson,” Starmer told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “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.” Starmer also said he'd followed the standard process in naming Mandelson to the post before he had been vetted.

Starmer is heading for a showdown with the senior official he fired over the saga, former Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins, who approved Mandelson’s security clearances despite the failed vetting.