Keir Starmer was dubbed ‘morally bankrupt’ on Thursday night after blaming MI5 for failing to vet Peter Mandelson properly.
Fighting for survival amid a revolt over his handling of the scandal, the Prime Minister criticised the ‘vetting carried out independently by the security services’ on the disgraced Labour peer, suggesting the process needs to be looked at.
But his comments provoked a furious backlash as critics pointed out Sir Keir had already approved and announced Mandelson as the new ambassador to Washington before he was subject to in-depth national security vetting.
MI5 did not carry out checks on Mandelson – it was the job of the Cabinet Office, with limited input from spies.
On Thursday, in a desperate bid to hold on to his dwindling authority, the PM sought to present himself as a victim of Mandelson’s lies, claiming he had honestly believed his assurances that he ‘barely knew’ Jeffrey Epstein.
But the suggestion that Sir Keir was somehow blind to the true nature of their relationship and that MI5 should have dug deeper only heightened anger among MPs who accused him of a ‘grubby attempt to shift blame’.
At the time of Mandelson’s appointment last February, there was a wealth of evidence in the public domain about his close friendship with paedophile Epstein.
Tory security spokesman Alicia Kearns said: ‘Keir Starmer exposes again his abject lack of integrity. Blaming our security services when he rail-roaded Mandelson into post, and only afterwards tasked the Cabinet Office to whitewash it, is morally bankrupt.
Keir Starmer was dubbed ‘morally bankrupt’ on Thursday night after blaming MI5 for failing to vet Peter Mandelson properly (pictured)
Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson are pictured. MI5 did not carry out checks on Mandelson – it was the job of the Cabinet Office, with limited input from spies
‘Starmer knew they had an ongoing relationship, and he knew Mandelson, while on official duties as deputy PM in New York, stayed at the home of Epstein after his conviction as a paedophile.’
Ms Kearns, who described criticism of the security service as ‘a seriously low blow’, added: ‘To suggest what was known of their relationship was not sufficient to rule him out of once more carrying the mantle of our country is to demonstrate a complete contempt for the common sense and morality of the British people.’
A two-page Cabinet Office propriety and ethics report compiled for Sir Keir before he gave Mandelson the US job revealed the peer had stayed at Epstein’s townhouse in 2009 while the financier was in prison.
The report, part of preliminary due diligence on all candidates for the role, amounted to ‘a summary of reputational risks’ from publicly available information.
It would likely have included an internal JP Morgan report from 2019 revealing Epstein ‘appears to maintain a particularly close relationship’ with Mandelson.
There were also reports of Mandelson attending intimate gatherings at his Manhattan house from 2002 onwards.
Photos also emerged of the pair celebrating a birthday at Epstein’s Paris apartment in 2007, by which time he had been arrested, charged and bailed over soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney followed up by asking a series of questions of Mandelson. The UK Security Vetting, part of the Cabinet Office, then conducted in-depth national security vetting.
Peter Mandelson, then British Ambassador to the United States, and Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney are pictured leaving Number 10 in June, 2025
On Thursday, Sir Keir said: ‘There was a due diligence exercise that culminated in questions being asked… the answers to those questions were not truthful.
‘There was then security vetting carried out independently by the security services… which gave him clearance for the role. Clearly, both the due diligence and the security vetting need to be looked at again.’
On Thursday night, the intelligence and security committee wrote to the PM asking for a speedy handover of the unredacted papers about the appointment.
Sir Julian Lewis, ex-chairman of the committee, said: ‘This looks like an extremely grubby attempt to shift the blame.’
On Thursday night, sources said Scotland Yard’s probe into Mandelson was progressing swiftly. The force has asked that certain files are not published for fear of prejudicing any potential prosecution for misconduct in public office.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch suggested Sir Keir will use ‘every trick in the book’ to keep the files secret, adding: ‘He’s been got bang to rights, and we need to make sure the truth comes out.’
