Donald Trump has stuck the boot into Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal, jibing that he was a ‘really bad pick’ for the job of US ambassador.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: ‘Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom acknowledged that he “exercised wrong judgement” when he chose his Ambassador to Washington.
‘I agree, he was a really bad pick.’
Apparently leaving the door open for redemption, the President added: ‘Plenty of time to recover, however! President DJT.’
One of Starmer’s reasons for picking Mandelson was his hope that the smooth-talking Labour veteran would be able to charm Trump, who so greatly values personal relationships.
That seemed to be paying off when, during a trade deal announcement in May 2025, the President purred over Mandelson’s ‘beautiful accent’.
But Trump seems to have ultimately reached the same conclusion as many along: Mandelson was a bad idea.
The Prime Minister is by now used to catching barbs from across the Atlantic, after the stream of scathing comments directed at him by Trump over the Iran war.
Donald Trump has weighed in to agree that Peter Mandelson was a ‘really bad pick’ all along for UK ambassador to the US
Keir Starmer had already limped through a gruelling day in the Commons yesterday
Trump laid into Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson with a post on Truth Social
The President has told the PM he pales in comparison to Winston Churchill, that his choices have shown ‘great stupidity’, and that the UK’s aircraft carriers are ‘old, broken down’ and nothing more than ‘toys’.
Starmer has remained defiant on his refusal to be drawn Iran, insisting last week he is ‘not going to yield’. But Trump’s latest line of attack is not so easy to deflect.
Sir Keir faced anger and ridicule in the Commons yesterday as he tried to blame officials for his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
The Prime Minister was drowned out by mocking laughter as he admitted his own version of events ‘beggars belief’.
Kemi Badenoch warned Sir Keir’s explanation was becoming ‘murkier and more contradictory’ and he faced sustained criticism from his own MPs as he struggled to explain why he gave Mandelson the job before he had been vetted, despite being warned about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and business links to China and Russia.
Sir Keir denied misleading MPs, insisting he was the victim of a ‘deliberate’ attempt by officials to keep him in the dark about the fact that Mandelson had failed his security vetting for the role.
He admitted it had been a mistake to bring back the disgraced Labour peer, describing it as ‘wrong’ – and insisted he would ‘take responsibility’ for that.
But he claimed he would never have given the Labour grandee the job if he had known that he failed his vetting in January 2025.
Instead he angrily blamed the Foreign Office, whose top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins was sacked last week for overruling the UK Security Vetting recommendation so Mandelson could take up the role of US ambassador.
It came as:
- Sir Olly prepared to give his own version of events to MPs this morning, amid growing anger among Whitehall mandarins about his treatment;
- Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander acknowledged there are doubts about whether the PM can survive in post until the next election;
- MPs questioned why Sir Keir had ignored written advice from the then-Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to conduct Mandelson’s security vetting before announcing his appointment;
- Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee revealed it was told as recently as February that documents relating to Mandelson’s security vetting ‘didn’t exist’;
- Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle granted an emergency Commons debate on the growing scandal today;
- Sir Keir announced a review into whether national security had been breached during Mandelson’s tenure in Washington;
- Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper cut short a trip to Japan to help deal with the crisis;
- Whitehall sources said the next batch of documents on the Mandelson appointment is likely to be delayed until after next month’s local elections.
Starmer faced scepticism even from his own benches in the Commons yesterday
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, made clear this was his moment of reckoning
During angry scenes in the Commons, Sir Keir faced criticism from all sides.
Mrs Badenoch told Sir Keir his reputation was at stake and warned him: ‘It is finally time for the truth.’
The Tory leader added: ‘We know the PM announced the appointment before vetting was complete, an extraordinary and unprecedented step for the role of US ambassador.
‘We still do not know exactly why Peter Mandelson failed that vetting.
‘We do not know what risks our country was exposed to, and we do not know how it is possible that the Prime Minister said repeatedly that this was a failure of vetting, went on television and said things that were blatantly incorrect, and not a single advisor or a single official told him what he was saying wasn’t true.
‘At every turn with every explanation, the Government’s story has become murkier and more contradictory.’
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Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chairman of the Commons’ foreign affairs committee, said Downing Street’s desire to appoint Mandelson ‘was a priority that overrode everything else’, including national security.
Labour veteran Diane Abbott noted that Mandelson had been forced to resign from Cabinet twice, telling the PM: ‘Peter Mandelson has a history. What this House wants to know is why, knowing Peter Mandelson’s history, going back 30 years… it’s one thing to say, “Nobody told me. Nobody told me anything.” The question is, why didn’t the Prime Minister ask?’
Chris Hinchliff, Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, said it seemed ‘wholly incredible’ that Sir Olly would have overruled the vetting agency ‘on a personal whim’ – and suggested he had faced ‘political pressure from No 10 to advance a man that a certain faction in the Labour Party have looked to for moral and spiritual leadership for years’.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey called on Sir Keir to resign, saying he appeared to be ‘in office, but not in power’.
He added: ‘We all know the truth: The Prime Minister knew that appointing Mandelson was an enormous risk, but he decided that it was a risk worth taking – a catastrophic error of judgment. Now that has blown up in his face, the only decent thing to do is take responsibility.’
Reform MP Lee Anderson and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana were told to leave the Commons chamber after branding the PM a liar.
To the astonishment of MPs, Sir Keir claimed he did not mislead them – even inadvertently – on the many occasions on which he claimed the ‘full due process’ had been followed at all times.
‘I did not mislead the House of Commons,’ he said. ‘I accept information that I should have had should have been before the House. But I did not mislead the House.’
Yesterday he said: ‘At the heart of this there is a judgment I made that was wrong. I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson.’ But he was unable to explain why only aides and officials have had to quit over the scandal, including chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications director Tim Allan.
And Sir Keir could not say why he ignored advice from then-Cabinet Secretary Mr Case in November 2024 – before Mandelson’s appointment was announced – that the vetting of a candidate should be carried out ‘before’ they are announced.
