He whines that Mandelson betrayed Britain. So why DID PM ignore the glaring red flags in his rush to appoint him? It’s Starmer who really put our national security at risk: DAN HODGES

Yes, Keir Starmer has lies.

‘All legal processes were followed in this process’ [Peter Mandelson’s] On 10 September he told the House of Commons that the appointment would be made, as was the case with all ambassadors.

And, as we saw graphically revealed last week, never in British political history has an ambassadorial appointment been as badly corrupt as the process the Prime Minister has overseen in relation to his now disgraced colleague.

Yes, Sir Keir has hypocrisy.

He was not elected merely on the promise of cleaning up politics. In particular, he promised to ensure transparency, end cronyism and, most importantly, take personal responsibility for decisions made on his behalf by ministers and officials.

‘I had 8,000 staff,’ he said, referring to his time as Director of Public Prosecutions during the Labor Party leadership election. ‘I carried the box when they made a mistake. ‘I never opened my wand, and you should never open yours.’

And yes, there is a uniquely sordid nature to Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, one of the world’s best-known pimps and pedophiles.

Starmer admitted he was tipped off to a Cabinet Office baseline review of his former colleague ahead of his appointment, and the relationship made a mockery of another of his pre-election pledges – a pledge to prioritize tackling violence against women and girls by powerful men.

Sir Keir had previously stated that Mandelson had undergone a security clearance and told the House of Commons that “due process” was being followed

But last week’s revelation that Mandelson had been appointed over the objections of the security services, who decided he was particularly unfit for the job in Washington, took this well beyond a bog-standard political crisis that raised damning questions about Starmer’s integrity and judgement.

This is now one of the biggest national security scandals of the post-Cold War era. A scandal on par with the Profumo spy scandals of the 1960s and the Cambridge spy scandals of the 1950s and 1960s.

It is not yet known why security chiefs viewed Mandelson as such a high level of security risk. But there are plenty of clues.

As The Mail on Sunday reported, the British security establishment has been concerned about Mandelson’s business activities and relationships for years, if not decades.

What’s more, these concerns were conveyed to Keir Starmer’s team in 2023, more than a year before he enters Downing Street.

They were given briefings that specifically detailed Mandelson’s ‘intimate’ relationship with Epstein, which is said to have begun in 2006.

But more disturbingly, they detailed how Mandelson was targeted by Soviet intelligence officers in the early ’80s and by their Russian successors in later years.

Mandelson, in particular, was seen as a particularly high-value target by Moscow when he was the EU’s trade commissioner.

It focused on the Metropolitan Police’s ongoing investigation. But with less fanfare, it was announced at the end of February that Mandelson was also being investigated by OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office.

Part of OLAF’s remit is to investigate serious misconduct by members of EU staff and institutions.

Again, none of this should have come as a surprise to Downing Street.

As I reported in February, British and EU intelligence officials were so concerned about Mandelson’s close ties to Putin’s top ally Oleg Deripaska that they sat him down and specifically advised him to cut off contact, including his frequent use of Deripaska’s private jet.

Much of the debate last week was over the extent to which Keir Starmer was made aware of the security services’ concerns before Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador. But the truth is that enough security ‘red flags’ had been raised with the Prime Minister before Mandelson’s appointment.

As The Mail on Sunday reported, the Foreign Office mounted a determined safeguard against Mandelson’s recruitment, with representations made by senior officials to Morgan McSweeney, then chief of staff.

Concerns have even been voiced by security officials in the United States.

And the published Cabinet Office Due Diligence Checklist, which was presented to Keir Starmer and is one of several documents linked to this incident that he has acknowledged passing across his desk, raised issues over Mandelson’s links to Epstein, Russia and China.

Again, for a very good reason. On Friday Downing Street published a summary of the UKSV Enhanced Investigation Template that security officials used to interview Mandelson.

It contained a red box that had to be ticked if the applicant’s consent was ‘Denied or Withdrawn’. This appears to be the box ticked regarding Mandelson.

But this only represents part of the story. According to a senior security source: ‘DV [Developed Vetting] It was easiest to pass.

‘In this case he would need to obtain STRAP clearance, which would allow access to particularly sensitive intelligence documents.

‘And finally, as ambassador to Washington, he had to gain access to what were called Compartmented Programs.

‘This is the highest clearance in the diplomatic service and is only granted to ambassadors to New York, Washington, Moscow, Paris, Berlin and Beijing.

‘This is because in these roles you have access not only to raw British intelligence, but also to intelligence collected by the Americans and our other allies.’

Surprisingly, this clearance was approved despite Mandelson’s known relationship with Epstein, his known connections to Putin’s allies, the known efforts of Russian security services to target him for over 40 years, and the official objections of the UK security services.

Mandelson was quickly appointed to the most sensitive diplomatic post in the Western world, under the direct instructions of the Prime Minister.

Consider the nature of the threat this poses not just to Britain’s national security but to the security of our closest allies.

Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein – which Keir Starmer admitted his former ambassador went to extraordinary lengths to conceal – made him a clear blackmail risk.

Mandelson was so prone to passing sensitive government information to third parties that he is now under investigation on suspicion of abuse of public office.

But moreover, he had such close ties to Russian intelligence that he had to be warned by British intelligence officials to sever those ties.

In terms of national security, Peter Mandelson is effectively the Sixth Man. No, he was not an official Russian agent.

However, the Prime Minister openly accused him of betraying his country.

He is under investigation by police forces both at home and abroad. Britain’s relationship with Washington’s security services has been scrapped.

The State Department is now experiencing its biggest crisis in a generation. And the Kremlin is popping the champagne.

So why? Because contrary to daily reports from No 10, Keir Starmer had no intention of prioritizing Britain’s national interests at a time when global affairs were uniquely dark and dangerous.

Instead, despite all warnings, he recklessly and deliberately ensured that Peter Mandelson was appointed to the most sensitive post in the British diplomatic service.

And the only reason he did this was because he decided he needed some of the political stardust and had neither the common sense nor the courage to change course once Mandelson’s failings were exposed.

This week, Keir Starmer’s last man Olly Robbins will appear before the foreign affairs select committee to try to explain the whole debacle. But he already made a goddamn intervention. He appeared before the committee a few weeks ago to explain Mandelson’s appointment.

He said: ‘At the time we announced it, it was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself.

‘And so I understand that he was informed of the FCDO’s decision and acted on that decision… The Prime Minister took advice and formed a view and we then acted on that view.’

Keir Starmer knew full well the dangers inherent in appointing Mandelson. Not just for himself politically, but for the defense and security of Britain and its allies.

He and his team were specifically warned about this years ago. And he continued on his way without caring.

“Mandelson betrayed our country,” Sir Keir angrily insisted in the House of Commons after his ambassador was sacked. But of course the real betrayer is the Prime Minister who recklessly put himself in a position to commit such a grave crime, despite the advice of the security forces.

But of course the real betrayer is the Prime Minister who recklessly put himself in a position to commit such a grave crime, despite the advice of the security forces.