• Starmer faces fresh calls to quit after it was revealed ex-envoy to US failed vetting process in late 2024
• Ministers support embattled premier, say he was unaware of clearance status at the time
• Opposition leaders have called for premier to step down
LONDON: Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face lawmakers in parliament on Monday (today) as he tries to quell anger over an unrelenting scandal involving long-time Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson.
Starmer, already widely unpopular amongst the British public and many Labour MPs, is struggling to put a lid on the controversy, which has dogged his premiership for months.
It flared again on Thursday when it was revealed that Mandelson was named as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in late 2024 despite failing to pass security checks, sparking fresh calls for Starmer to quit.
The beleagured leader insisted on Friday that he and other ministers were not told Mandelson had failed the vetting process, calling the omission “unforgivable”.
He is to give further details in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, before being quizzed by MPs.
Starmer has blamed foreign office officials for allowing the appointment against the advice of security officials. He sacked the department’s top civil servant Olly Robins on Thursday.
Ex-civil servants have accused Starmer of scapegoating Robbins, who is to give his own account to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, in what could be a crunch week for Starmer’s almost two-year-old premiership.
Opposition leaders have called for Starmer to step down, with accusations ranging from incompetence to wilful misleading of parliamentarians and the public.
Downing Street insists that remains true because government rules meant the foreign office had the power to overrule vetting concerns, unbeknownst to Starmer and his top team.
On Friday, Starmer’s office took the unusual step of releasing a memo which insisted that he only found out about the vetting failure on Tuesday last week.
Ministers back Starmer
Ministers have rallied around him over the weekend, with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and deputy prime minister David Lammy insisting Starmer would not have appointed Mandelson had he known that he had not received the appropriate clearance.
“I think he is an honest man and a man of integrity who says it was a mistake to appoint him [Mandelson],” Kendall told Sky News.
Kendall said Starmer should remain in his job because he had “made the right call” on big issues, such as building closer relations with the European Union and limiting Britain’s involvement in the Iran war.
Deputy prime minister David Lammy, who was foreign secretary when Mandelson was appointed to Washington, said the same in an interview with the Guardian published late Saturday.
Lammy said it was “inexplicable” that the foreign office had kept Downing Street in the dark, telling the Guardian he had been “shocked and surprised” when he learnt what happened.
Polls suggest Starmer is one of Britain’s most unpopular prime ministers ever, in part because of several policy missteps.
Starmer sacked Mandelson in September 2025 after new details emerged about the depth of the ex-envoy’s ties to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges.
UK police are investigating allegations of misconduct in office by Mandelson when he was a Labour minister more than 15 years ago. He was arrested and released in February. Mandelson, 72, has not been charged and denies criminal wrongdoing.
Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2026
