Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” have appointed Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the US if he had known the full details of his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.In his first comments since sacking Lord Mandelson, Sir Keir said the Labour peer went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment, but he added: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”Sir Keir gave public backing to Lord Mandelson in the Commons on Wednesday only to sack him the following day.Opposition MPs will get a chance to put further pressure on the government after the Speaker granted the Tories an emergency debate on the appointment on Tuesday.Emails reported by Bloomberg showed supportive messages Lord Mandelson sent to Epstein in 2008 following his guilty plea.The leaked emails included passages in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.Speaking to reporters, Sir Keir said the messages showed Lord Mandelson “was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time”. Lord Mandelson’s emails “cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years and this government’s”, he adde …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” have appointed Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the US if he had known the full details of his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.In his first comments since sacking Lord Mandelson, Sir Keir said the Labour peer went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment, but he added: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”Sir Keir gave public backing to Lord Mandelson in the Commons on Wednesday only to sack him the following day.Opposition MPs will get a chance to put further pressure on the government after the Speaker granted the Tories an emergency debate on the appointment on Tuesday.Emails reported by Bloomberg showed supportive messages Lord Mandelson sent to Epstein in 2008 following his guilty plea.The leaked emails included passages in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.Speaking to reporters, Sir Keir said the messages showed Lord Mandelson “was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time”. Lord Mandelson’s emails “cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years and this government’s”, he adde …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
