I’m sorry for appointing Mandelson and believing his Epstein lies, Starmer says

Sir Keir Starmer said he was sorry for believing Peter Mandelson’s “lies” and appointing him to the role of Britain’s ambassador to the US.

After a barrage of criticism from his own MPs in one of the most turbulent days of his leadership, the prime minister addressed growing anger over his handling of the issue by making a public apology to the victims of pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in a planned speech about social cohesion.

After admitting she knew Lord Mandelson had an affair with Epstein during PMQs in a bid to contain the damage, she said: “None of us knew the depth and darkness of that relationship.”

But speculation continues over the future of Sir Keir and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and some Labor MPs have publicly called on the prime minister to sack his right-hand man.

This led Labor MP Harriet Harman to warn Sir Keir that he must act on the scandal or risk losing his job.

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Baroness Harman told Sky News: “I think this is very serious for Keir Starmer. I don’t think it’s inevitable that this will bring him down.”

“But unless he takes the action that is truly necessary for him, it will bring him down, and that is: first of all, he should stop blaming Mandelson and saying, ‘He lied to me.’ Because he really shouldn’t have thought about him in the first place.”

Sir Keir said he shared his colleagues’ “anger and disappointment” over the saga, but vowed to continue as prime minister while doubling down on his support for Mr McSweeney, who is blamed by many Labor MPs for pushing for the appointment of his ally Lord Mandelson and bringing him back to the heart of the Labor government.

Opposition parties have called for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, while Sir Keir faces calls from within the Labor Party for a “complete overhaul of staff” at Downing Street and to admit he made a “catastrophic error in political and moral judgment”.

Earlier, Paula Barker, deputy chair of both Labour’s standards committee and privileges committee, criticized Sir Keir’s “questionable” judgment of the saga, adding: “When your chiefs of staff become the story, it’s often time for them to go.”

Labor MP Karl Turner added: “If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister is against it.”

Another Labor MP, speaking anonymously, said getting rid of Mr McSweeney would be like cutting off the “head of the hydra” and that a “root and branch” change in government was needed instead.

Asked about the Prime Minister’s speech, he said: “Take your apology and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. It sickens me to hear them defend this. After Trump was elected, they thought we should have it and bear the risks. What part of Mandelson staying in a pedophile’s house did you not understand?”

Speaking in Hastings, Sir Keir sought to place blame on the process of independent review carried out by the security services following the confirmation of Lord Mandelson’s appointment.

He said: “I think we need to look at the vetting because it has now become clear that what was said was not true. And if I had known then what I know now, I would never have thrown him in the first place.”

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According to Downing Street, officials were primarily tasked with reviewing this process.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Labor MPs are unconvinced by Sir Keir’s determination to remain in 10th place and are calling on Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting to launch a leadership fight over the scandal.

A Labor MP said: Independent: “Someone has to work for this. It can’t go on like this.”

Sir Keir said Lord Mandelson was “asked directly” whether he remained with Epstein after his conviction and whether he accepted gifts from the financier. “The information currently available makes it clear that his answers were lies,” Sir Keir said. “He portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew. [it] it became clear [that] This wasn’t right, I fired him. “This kind of deception is incompatible with public service.”

The address came after Labor MPs, led by Ms Rayner, forced the prime minister into a humiliating escalation over the publication of the full review papers on the appointment.

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The prime minister attempted to restrict the release of the documents, arguing that some details needed to be redacted on national security grounds, leading to accusations that he was engaging in a “cover-up”.

Sir Keir eventually backed down after Ms Rayner stood in the House of Commons and made clear she would support a Tory proposal for the independent Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to decide what documents can be published.

Downing Street said it was in discussions with the ISC about the process for publishing the documents and would inform Parliament once the process was agreed.

The ISC has since said it could not commit to a timeline for reviewing the documents. In a letter to the prime minister, the committee said it would act “as always, completely independently of the government” when deciding whether certain documents should be withheld for national security reasons.

“This should be solely a matter for the committee – and it is clearly not possible for the committee to decide this without seeing the documents, or indeed to commit to any timetable until we know the scale of the task at hand,” he added.

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Meanwhile, opposition parties called for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister after Reform England leader Nigel Farage described the issue as the biggest political scandal in Britain “in 100 years”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told a press conference in Westminster: “He will have to be removed from No 10, so I’m making them an offer. If they want the change they know the country needs, come and talk to my whips and let’s talk seriously about a vote of no confidence to force this moment.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey repeated calls for a vote of no confidence, while Mr Farage described the prime minister’s apology as “very weak” and “not very convincing”.