The PM said he wants MPs to see “the full documentation,” and “the extent to which … time and time again Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein, and lied throughout the process — including in response to the due diligence.”
Mandelson will also be stripped of his membership of the Privy Council — a group of senior public figures who traditionally advised the monarch, who can use the title “right honourable,” Starmer said.
Earlier Wednesday Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the prime minister will release information into the public domain about how Mandelson was appointed, his correspondence with ministers and his subsequent sacking last September his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s judgement in appointing Mandelson to the key Washington post has been called into question by his political opponents, and some of his own MPs.
“There is no doubt that the prime minister’s judgment is being called into the sharpest question at this moment,” said Alex Burghart, a Conservative shadow Cabinet minister, said. “It is becoming harder to see how any of us can rely on his judgment into the future.”
Exploiting that disquiet, his party has put forward a humble address — a parliamentary message to King Charles that was favored by Starmer during his time as leader of the opposition — calling for “all papers” relating to Mandelson’s appointment last year to be published. If agreed, it would bind the U.K. government to release the documents.