British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has admitted he made a wrong judgment in appointing Labour politician Peter Mandelson as the UK's envoy to Washington. Starmer stated he should not have proceeded with the appointment if he had been aware that Mandelson failed security checks.
The controversy stems from Mandelson's past association with Jeffrey Epstein and his failure to pass security vetting, information Starmer claims was withheld from him until recently. Starmer expressed disbelief that senior ministers were not informed of the vetting outcome earlier.
Following the revelation, Starmer sacked the Foreign Office's top civil servant and initiated a review of the security vetting process. Opposition leaders have called for Starmer's resignation, citing incompetence and misleading of parliament. Starmer insists that government rules allowed for vetting concerns to be overruled without his team's knowledge.