Starmer Faces Heat Over Mandelson Appointment

0:00That's your update from Europe News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces heat over appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as Brynn's ambassador to Washington, D.C. A top minister now says Starmer would never have picked him if he'd known security officials skipped the highest level of vetting, called developed, vetting. Mandelson got the boot less than a year in after his ties to Jeffrey Epstein surfaced in U.S. files. The scandal blew up this week with a Guardian report showing Mandelson never cleared that top vetting hurdle during the process. Back in February, Starmer told Parliament everything checked out with full due process. But a new downing street memo reveals senior civil servants spotted the vetting gap earlier, tied to files and peas demanded. Government folks are rallying around Starmer. Tech Secretary Liz Kendall said he got bad info that the vetting passed, and Deputy PM David Lamy backed that up.

1:00They stressed Starmer wouldn't risk national security, even knowing Mandelson's past cabinet sackings. Opposition voices are piling on. Conservatives want Starmer to own the mess, live Dem's call it catastrophic judgment, and reform UK says his calls are terrible enough to boot him. No confidence vote talk is floating, but Tories say they'll pick their shots. Starmer heads to the Commons tomorrow to lay out the facts and clear the air, amid calls for total transparency after this messy chapter.