https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pressure-mounts-pm-resign-over-mandelson-appointment

PRESSURE mounted on Sir Keir Starmer to resign today as backbenchers joined opposition parties saying the PM must have been aware Lord Peter Mandelson had failed vetting before appointing him US ambassador.

The Labour leader said it was “unforgivable” that he was not told that the Foreign Office had overruled the UK Security Vetting team’s recommendation not to clear the so-called “Prince of Darkness” for the post.

“That I wasn’t told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he was appointed is staggering,” the PM said.

“That I wasn’t told that he had failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.

…

Sir Keir was already under fire over the decision to give the twice-resigned cabinet minister the job, despite it being known that his dealings with Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.

Questions over his judgement intensified after the first batch of documents related to the decision, published last month, showed that he was warned before announcing Lord Mandelson’s ambassadorship of a “general reputational risk” over his association with Epstein.

That warning stemmed from the first part of the checks, carried out by the Cabinet Office, which was based on information in the public domain at the time.

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See the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pressure-mounts-pm-resign-over-mandelson-appointment