Mandelson red flags were missed or ignored, senior Labour MP says

A senior Labour MP has said "red flags were missed or ignored" before Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US, in an emergency debate about his sacking.

Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said "something went very wrong" given Lord Mandelson's known links to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

Lord Mandelson was sacked last week after the publication of emails that showed the Labour peer had sent supportive messages to Epstein as he faced jail in 2008.

In the debate, the appointment was widely criticised by MPs, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of "hiding from questions".

Badenoch said the prime minister had "shrivelled" from leadership and called on him to apologise to Epstein's victims.

On Monday, Sir Keir said he would "never" have appointed Lord Mandelson if he had known the full details of his relationship with Epstein.

The prime minister sacked Lord Mandelson after reviewing a cache of emails between the Labour peer and Epstein.

The emails were published by Bloomberg after Sir Kier had expressed confidence in Lord Mandelson in Parliament, and the prime minister has insisted he did not know what was in the messages at that point.

An emergency debate was requested by the Conservative MP David Davis, who said the prime minister's standing had been "diminished" by the appointment of Lord Mandelson.

Dame Emily, who spoke in the debate, said she had asked the government questions about the vetting of Lord Mandelson and had received responses from Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

In a letter, Cooper suggested her department was not responsible for any failure to recognise risks in the appointment of Lord Mandelson.

She said no concerns about Lord Mandelson were raised with the Foreign Office after a due diligence process was conducted by the Cabinet Office.

The Foreign Office, she said, was not asked to contribute to that process.

Her comments throw the spotlight on the Cabinet Office and Sir Keir for their role in deciding whether Lord Mandelson was a suitable candidate.

"Clearly we all think [the appointment] was a mistake," Dame Emily told MPs.

"The question is, how did that mistake occur? And how do we make sure this sort of thing does not happen again because something went very wrong.

"When Lord Mandelson was appointed, red flags were obviously missed or ignored."

Dame Emily told MPs it was a mistake to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US

Dame Emily was one of the few Labour MPs who spoke in the debate, with the majority of voices coming from the opposition benches.

Outside of Parliament, some Labour MPs have been privately and publicly critical with a few questioning if Sir Keir can stay on as prime minister.

During the debate, several Conservatives criticised Sir Keir for failing to attend and sending Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty in his place.

Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey said the prime minister should apologise to victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

"How must it have felt for the victims to see another of Epstein's closest friends made British ambassador to the United States," he said.

"How must it have felt for them to hear ministers say, even after Mandelson was sacked, that his appointment was a risk worth taking?"

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in Westminster, said: "I do not know what it is about the decades of scandals and being best friends with a notorious child trafficker and paedophile, which should have got some alarm bells ringing in No 10 before this decision was taken."

Asked if the government would apologise to victims, Doughty said he had made "very clear our position on Epstein's victims and our horror at the revelations".

He added that Sir Keir was "focused on deepening our special relationship" with the United States.

Last week Lord Mandelson said he "very deeply" regretted his friendship with Epstein, which he said he continued "for far longer than I should have done".

He said he never saw wrongdoing while with Epstein and he "never sought, nor did [Epstein] offer introductions to women in the way that he did to others, perhaps it is because I am a gay man".

The debate comes ahead of a state visit to the UK by US President Donald Trump, who is expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday evening.

During the visit, the prime minister could face questions about Mandelson while standing alongside Trump, who himself had links to Epstein.

Trump and Epstein were friends but the president has said the pair fell out in the early 2000s.

Epstein was first criminally indicted in 2006 in Florida and pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges involving a minor.

He died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.