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 …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA 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 …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
