United Kingdom

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigned on Sunday. furor around the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US despite his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s top diplomatic post in 2024.

“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. It has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

Starmer faces a political storm and questions about his judgment after newly released documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was Business Secretary of the UK government during the 2008 financial crisis.

The prime minister apologized last week for “believing Mandelson’s lies.” He said “none of us knew the depth of darkness” of the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein when the former was vetted for the diplomatic post.

“Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party… he repeatedly lied to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador. I regret appointing him,” Starmer told lawmakers last week.

Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will prove Mandelson misled officials.

Several lawmakers have called for Starmer to resign.

“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

Mandelson, a former cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the ruling Labor Party, has not been arrested or charged.

He The Metropolitan Police is already investigating and officers searched Mandelson’s London home and other property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of additional evidence collection and analysis.”

Starmer had Mandelson fired in September from his ambassador job over previous revelations about his ties to Epstein. But critics say emails recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s trial to the fore. They argue that he should have known not to name Mandelson in the first place.

The new revelations include documents suggesting that Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or her husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign from senior government positions twice due to money or ethics scandals.