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Ministers have no authority to withhold Mandelson vetting file, committee says

appoint Mandelson as ambassador to the US in December 2024 has cast a shadow over his premiership and led to calls for his resignation prior to Labour’s poor showing in the local elections

I made 'serious mistake' advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, PM's ex-top adviser says

appointed, a due diligence check - a separate process to the security vetting - was carried out by a team at the Cabinet Office and sent to the prime minister. This flagged Lord Mandelson's continued relationship

Starmer would have blocked Mandelson role over vetting failure, says Lammy

appointed him ambassador. “The prime minister was not particularly close to Peter Mandelson. He hadn’t worked with him in the past, as some of us had. He was weighing a decision

Streeting says raising concerns over Gaza in government like ‘hitting up against a brick wall’

appointment as ambassador to the US, WhatsApp messages showed Mandelson being highly critical of Streeting to Pat McFadden, another cabinet minister. In the messages, Mandelson discussed Streeting’s lobbying of the government in July

Is The Strait Of Hormuz Actually Open (Or Shut) Right Now?

appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador had he known he failed security vetting. Elsewhere, negotiations continue between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. But is it actually currently open or closed

What Starmer said, and didn’t say, in the Commons about the Mandelson saga

Mandelson appointment. This is potentially very serious – a deliberate misleading of the Commons is seen as grounds for resignation. Starmer can make a case for any wrong information not being his fault, and Downing Street

Five unanswered questions on Keir Starmer’s Mandelson debacle

question. Downing Street is clear: it is “staggering” that Mandelson failed vetting, and that the Foreign Office not only overruled this but told no one in No 10. However, Ciaran Martin, a former top civil

How safe is Starmer’s premiership after his Mandelson vetting statement to MPs?

Mandelson’s own lack of candour. He is firm in his mind that he would never have made the appointment had he known about the failed vetting. Perhaps that is correct. Allies of Starmer insist

Retired high court judge to review Peter Mandelson’s vetting process

appoint Adrian Fulford to lead a formal review of the vetting process. Discussions were under way earlier this week on the terms of reference, which are yet to be completed. Fulford, a former appeals court

Senior Labour figures say call for new Mandelson investigation is a ‘political stunt’

Mandelson’s appointment. Downing Street says the evidence it has heard so far, including from senior civil servants, has shown Starmer told the truth. Before an expected attempt by the Conservatives on Monday to push

Revealed: Mandelson vetting warned of ties to senior figures in China, Russia and Israel

appointment. In an extraordinary intervention earlier this month, the intelligence and security committee (ISC) publicly accused the government of withholding some Mandelson vetting documents and implementing redactions “far too broadly”. During a debate in parliament

UK’s new ambassador to US said Starmer had been ‘on the ropes’ over Mandelson scandal

appointed. His remarks are embarrassing for Downing Street because they emerged the same week that the king is carrying out his state visit under the president, Donald Trump, who has previously branded Mandelson a “really

'Bereft and beleaguered' - Mandelson messages reveal criticism of No 10

appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US - a role he was later sacked from due to his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In one message, Lord Mandelson describes

Starmer faces Commons showdown over Mandelson vetting scandal

Mandelson had failed his security vetting when he was appointed is astonishing. “The fact that I wasn’t told when I said to parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable, and that

Why Starmer still can't move on from the Mandelson mess

appointment himself". In Whitehall, some are amazed that a highly capable and experienced official took the decision to clear Mandelson for the job despite the vetting verdict, without lodging concern somewhere. One said

Senior official ousted over Mandelson security row to face MPs

question about the row. Robbins's predecessor Lord Simon McDonald has defended the senior official, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "No 10 wanted a scalp and wanted it quickly". The former permanent

Starmer tells MPs Foreign Office has been stripped of power to overrule vetting

appointment after Mandelson was sacked in September 2025, and reported that normal processes were followed, the Foreign Office still did not tell him. At the same time, he said, the Foreign Office’s head civil

Former Labour MP calls for Starmer to face Commons committee over Mandelson vetting

appointment of [Peter Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson) as ambassador to Washington continues. Karl Turner, who lost the [Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour) whip last month [after making a series of interventions](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/31/karl-turner-labour-whip-suspended) criticising Starmer

Starmer could have been told about Mandelson’s vetting failure, claims No 10 with release of briefing paper – UK politics live

Mandelson was appointed ambassador to the US. If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media

Key points from Starmer's Mandelson statement

appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US. It comes after it emerged the peer was given security clearance for the role in January 2025, against the recommendation of officials who vetted