Starmer appoints career diplomat Christian Turner as US ambassador | Foreign policy

Keir Starmer has appointed career diplomat Christian Turner as his new ambassador to Washington, government sources have confirmed.

Turner will replace Peter Mandelson, who was forced to resign due to his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.

United Nations Ambassador Turner was previously political director at the State Department and brokered close relations with the new Labor administration before leaving for New York.

The State Department is said to be pushing hard for an experienced diplomat to fill the role, as well as someone experienced enough to deal with the turmoil under Donald Trump.

Turner was chosen to replace the prime minister’s business adviser Varun Chandra and Russian ambassador Nigel Casey, who will take on an expanded role in Downing Street.

The US ambassador position has been vacant since Mandelson was dismissed in September for failing to disclose the extent of his ties to child sex offender Epstein.

It emerged that Mandelson had urged his financier, who faced an 18-month prison sentence for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute in 2008, to “fight for early release” from prison.