Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s Ambassador to the US.
He is fighting for his job with a Cabinet minister admitting it is not certain he will lead Labour into the next election.
The Prime Minister has already been hit by calls to quit from Labour backbenchers and peers as well as opposition party leaders over his ‘catastrophic’ misjudgments.
On Monday, Sir Keir was drowned out by mocking laughter in the Commons as he tried to blame officials for his disastrous decision.
He tried to shift responsibility onto ousted Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins last week, insisting it was ‘unforgivable’ the civil service did not tell him vetting officials advised against making Mandelson US ambassador.
But now the PM faces accusations of breaking the Ministerial Code by not immediately telling the Commons that new evidence had cast doubt on his previous assurances that ‘full due process’ had been followed in appointment of the US ambassador.
These are all the key dates in the scandal of Sir Keir appointing Mandelson.
2024
November 11: The Prime Minister is advised by then Cabinet Secretary Simon Case that if he wants to make a political appointment for the Washington DC posting, ‘we will develop a plan for them to acquire the necessary security clearances and do due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other issues of which you should be aware before confirming your choice’.
December 11: Sir Keir is handed a due diligence review from the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team (PET), which sets out the details of Mandelson’s ‘relationship with Jeffrey Epstein’ and warns of a ‘general reputational risk’ as well as noting his business links to China and Russia.
December 20: Despite the known risks, the PM says he is ‘delighted’ to appoint Mandelson ‘to be the next British Ambassador to the United States of America’, hailing his ‘unrivalled experience’.
December 20: The New Labour grandee is sent a host of forms to fill in and told that among the important next steps will be ‘going through the vetting process’.
December 23: The security vetting process for Mandelson begins.
2025
January 14: Mandelson is pictured in Downing Street wearing a lanyard indicating he has Developed Vetting status.
January 28: UK Security Vetting officials recommend that he should be denied Developed Vetting clearance.
January 29: Foreign Office mandarin Sir Olly Robbins overrides their advice and grants him the clearance – but does not tell anyone.
February 4: Mandelson, who started in the role the day before, is told he must apply for an even higher level of security clearance known as STRAP, which allows him to be shown intelligence material.
September 10: Sir Keir tells MPs he has confidence in Mandelson despite new evidence emerging in the US that he had called paedophile Epstein his ‘best pal’, and that ‘full due process was followed’ for his appointment.
September 11: The PM sacks Mandelson after Bloomberg publishes emails showing that Mandelson had told Epstein he was ‘furious’ about his imprisonment for child sex offences.
September 11: Journalist David Maddox tells Sir Keir’s Director of Communications he has heard that Lord Mandelson ‘did not clear vetting with MI6’ but is assured ‘vetting done by FCDO in normal way’.
September 13: The Mail on Sunday tells No 10 ‘red flags’ had been raised over Lord Mandelson but again this is denied.
September 16: In a letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Olly and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper insist: ‘Peter Mandelson’s security vetting was conducted to the usual standard set for developed vetting in line with established Cabinet Office policy.’
November 3: Sir Olly tells MPs on the committee: ‘It was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself. Therefore, I understand, the FCDO was informed of his decision and acted on it.’
2026
February 4: Sir Keir tells Prime Minister’s Questions: ‘As the House would expect, we went through a process. There was a due diligence exercise, and then there was security vetting by the security services.’
February 5: At a press conference in Hastings, the PM says: ‘There was then, I should add, security vetting carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role, and you have to go through that before you take up the post.’
March 25: As part of the process of gathering files on the scandal for publication, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Cat Little receives the document from UK Security Vetting recommending Mandelson be denied Developed Vetting clearance.
April 14: Ms Little and Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo tell Sir Keir about the vetting failure.
April 16: The scandal is revealed by the Guardian, hours before the Government issues a statement on it. Late that evening Sir Keir sacks Sir Olly for not telling him what had happened.
April 20: Sir Keir addresses MPs on the saga.
