Timeline of the Mandelson scandal that put Keir Starmer in the dock

Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s Ambassador to the US.

A Cabinet minister is fighting for his job after admitting it is not certain he will lead Labor at the next election.

The Prime Minister has already faced calls to resign from opposition party leaders, as well as Labor supporters and colleagues, over his ‘catastrophically’ poor decisions.

On Monday Sir Keir burst into mocking laughter in the House of Commons as he tried to blame officials for his disastrous decision.

Last week he sought to shift responsibility to sacked Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins, insisting it was ‘inexcusable’ that the civil service failed to tell him investigators had recommended against making Mandelson US ambassador.

But the Prime Minister now faces accusations that he breached the Ministerial Code by not immediately telling the House of Commons that new evidence cast doubt on his previous assurances that ‘full due process’ was followed in appointing the US ambassador.

These are all key dates in the scandal of Sir Keir’s appointment of Mandelson.

2024

11 November: Then Cabinet Secretary Simon Case advised the Prime Minister that if he wanted to make a political appointment for the post in Washington DC, ‘we would develop a plan for them to obtain the necessary security clearances and carry out due diligence on any potential Conflicts of Interest or other matters you should be aware of before confirming your selection’.

11 December: Sir Keir was given a due diligence review by the Cabinet Office’s Compliance and Ethics Team (PET), which laid out details of Mandelson’s “relationship with Jeffrey Epstein” and warned of “general reputational risk”, as well as highlighting his business links with China and Russia.

20 December: Despite known risks, Prime Minister says he is ‘delighted’ to appoint Mandelson as ‘the next British Ambassador to the United States’ and praises his ‘unrivalled experience’.

20 December: Labour’s new leader is being sent a series of forms to fill out and is told one of the next important steps will be ‘going through the vetting process’.

December 23: Mandelson’s vetting process begins.

The Prime Minister has faced calls to resign from opposition party leaders, as well as Labor supporters and colleagues, over his “catastrophic” misjudgments.

2025

January 14: Mandelson was photographed wearing a lanyard indicating he had Enhanced Review status at Downing Street.

January 28: UK Security Review officials recommend that Enhanced Review permission be refused.

29 January: Foreign Office official Sir Olly Robbins ignores their advice and gives her permission, but doesn’t tell anyone.

4 February: Mandelson, who took office the day before, was told he would have to apply for a higher-level security clearance known as STRAP, which allows him to be shown intelligence material.

10 September: Sir Keir told MPs he trusted Mandelson despite new evidence emerging in the US that he called pedophile Epstein his ‘best friend’ and that ‘all due process was followed’ for his appointment.

September 11: The Prime Minister sacked Mandelson after Bloomberg published emails showing Mandelson saying he was ‘furious’ about Epstein being imprisoned for child sex crimes.

September 11: Journalist David Maddox told Sir Keir’s Director of Communications that Lord Mandelson had ‘did not confirm the review with MI6’ but had heard assurances that ‘the review was being carried out by the FCDO in the normal way’.

September 13: The Mail on Sunday says number 10 ‘red flags’ have been raised about Lord Mandelson, but this is again denied.

16 September: Sir Olly and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper insist in a letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee: ‘Peter Mandelson’s security review was conducted to the usual standards set for enhanced scrutiny, in accordance with established policy of the Cabinet Office.’

November 3: Sir Olly tells MPs on the committee: ‘It was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself. I therefore understand that the FCDO has been informed of this decision and has taken action on it.’

Peter Mandelson was disgracefully sacked on September 11 after emails were published showing him telling Epstein he was ‘furious’ at being sentenced to prison for child sex crimes.

2026

4 February: Sir Keir tells Prime Minister’s Questions: ‘We have gone through a process as the Parliament expected. ‘A due diligence exercise was carried out followed by a security review by the security services.’

5 February: At a press conference in Hastings, the Prime Minister says: ‘At the time, I should add, there was an independent vetting carried out by the security services, which was intense work that cleared him for this role, and you need to review that before he takes office.’

March 25: As part of the process of collecting files on the scandal for publication, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Cat Little receives the document from the UK Security Review recommending that Mandelson be refused Enhanced Review clearance.

14 April: Mrs Little and Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo tell Sir Keir about the review failure.

16 April: The scandal was revealed by the Guardian hours before the Government made a statement on the matter. Later that evening, Ser Keir dismisses Ser Olly for not telling him what happened to him.

20 April: Sir Keir addresses MPs on the saga.