(Bloomberg) — The UK government defended its ill-fated decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington as pressure grows on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his handling of the affair following the envoy’s ouster.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle on Sunday told Sky News that at the time of the appointment in December, the government believed it was worth the risk. Mandelson was a “singular talent” who helped Britain navigate the most difficult period in trans-Atlantic ties, he also said to the BBC.
Still, the minister conceded that the government didn’t know the full extent of the former envoy’s ties with the late pedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein, and wouldn’t have appointed him, had they been aware.
“Retrospectively, if we had known the information that we know now, it was highly unlikely that he would have been appointed,” Kyle said.
The depth of Mandelson’s ties to Epstein were revealed last week in a cache of 18,000 emails obtained by Bloomberg News. After initially defending Mandelson on Wednesday, Starmer on Thursday removed the envoy from his post after the publication of the Bloomberg story.
Kyle on Sunday was questioned over Starmer’s initial backing of Mandelson as well as the vetting process conducted before his appointment in December. Downing Street has insisted that it didn’t have access to the full emails when the prime minister offered his support to Mandelson on Wednesday.
“There was a thorough vetting process,” which was conducted in the same way it would have been for all external appointments, Kyle said.
Still, questions over the appointment remain. Bloomberg reported on Saturday that there was frustration in Downing Street that Mandelson hadn’t been entirely honest with them about the extent of his relationship with Epstein when he was appointed, and with how quickly he gave them full details of Bloomberg’s investigation.
The uproar over Mandelson threatens to cast a shadow over the upcoming state visit by President Donald Trump this week, which No. 10 has been keen to tout as a triumphant reset of UK-US ties.
“This is a government that is delivering, we are turning a corner,” Kyle said, pointing to the planned investments by American financial firms in Britain.
–With assistance from Sherry Su and Alex Wickham.
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