Morgan McSweeney breaks silence on Mandelson scandal with 7-word reply | Politics | News

Morgan McSweeney has broken her silence on the Lord Mandelson scandal following claims she swore at officials and pressured them to approve a review of her disgraced peer. The Prime Minister’s former private secretary resigned in February, saying he took “full responsibility” for advising Sir Keir Starmer to appoint Labor’s ambassador to the US as ambassador.

Former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins claimed this week that No 10 had taken a “condescending” approach to Lord Mandelson’s review, while others suggested Mr McSweeney called the department and said “just approve it”. According to the BBC, Mr McSweeney responded to questions at the Kiev Security Conference on Thursday with a seven-word comment: “I do not recognize that description of myself.” He added: “Sometimes I find it strange to read about a character with the same name as mine, but yeah, I don’t know that character.”

Peer was appointed in December 2024, but was sacked by the Prime Minister a few months later after the ambassador’s links to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were revealed.

Sir Olly, who was sacked as permanent under-secretary of the Foreign Office for failing to tell the Prime Minister about Lord Mandelson’s review, insists he always followed correct procedure.

Asked further about Lord Mandelson’s appointment on Thursday, Mr McSweeney said he took responsibility for his role.

“I think it’s right to take responsibility when you misunderstand the call,” he added.

The Prime Minister apologized for his appointment, claiming Lord Mandelson lied to him about his links to Epstein.