British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a stark apology on Thursday, launching a direct attack on former British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson and admitting he was wrong to trust him.
“I am sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointing him,” Starmer said, as anger continued to spread across parliament over why the appointment was made despite long-known ties between Mandelson and the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer said the depth of that connection had only now become clear.
“It had been publicly known for some time that Mandelson knew Epstein, but none of us knew the depth and the darkness of that relationship,” he said at the start of a speech in southern England.
Files released last week by the U.S. Justice Department revealed emails that underscored how close the relationship was and suggested Mandelson leaked government documents to Epstein.
Records also indicated Epstein had logged payments to Mandelson or his then-partner, now husband.
Mandelson, a senior Labour figure when the party last governed more than 15 years ago, quit the House of Lords on Tuesday and is under police investigation for alleged misconduct in office.
He has said he does not recall receiving payments and has not commented on the leaking allegations. He has not responded to requests for comment.
With polls showing Starmer already facing public discontent, some Labour lawmakers say the episode raises serious questions about his judgement and could threaten his position.
Addressing victims of Epstein, Starmer said: “I want to say this to Epstein’s victims: I am sorry. Sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you.”
Starmer said he wanted to release the vetting advice he received before appointing Mandelson as ambassador but added that police had asked him not to release anything that could “prejudice an investigation.”
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, moving the long-delayed pact clo...
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end o...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war to pave the way for a leaders’ meeting ...
The U.S. has warned that Iran’s refusal to address its ballistic missile programme complicates efforts to secure progress at a new round of indirect...
House lawmakers are set to question former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, New York near their main...
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
House lawmakers are set to question former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, New York near their main residence, on Thursday (26 February) and Friday as part of Congress’s investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has taken responsibility for his past ties to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a town hall meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation, a spokesperson confirmed.
UK police have concluded searches at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former residence in Windsor Great Park as part of an investigation into alleged misconduct in public office.
The Taliban in Kabul has rejected Russian claims that more than 23,000 militants from around 20 international terror groups are currently operating within Afghanistan.
Four years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war can be measured not only in lives and territory, but in money. In Part One, the war’s cost was measured in casualties and kilometres. In Part Two, it is measured in billions of dollars.
Thailand and the United States, alongside 28 partner nations, began Southeast Asia’s largest and longest-running military exercise, the 45th Cobra Gold, on Tuesday (24 February) in Rayong province, Thailand.
Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Torrential downpours have triggered deadly mudslides and widespread flooding in southern Peru, leaving at least seventeen people dead - including fifteen killed in a military helicopter crash - as hundreds of districts across the country remain under a state of emergency.
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an historic free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, moving the long-delayed pact closer to implementation.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday (February 25) that he will retire from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid scrutiny over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expects the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war to pave the way for a leaders’ meeting after speaking by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (25 February).
The U.S. has warned that Iran’s refusal to address its ballistic missile programme complicates efforts to secure progress at a new round of indirect nuclear negotiations in Geneva.
House lawmakers are set to question former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, New York near their main residence, on Thursday (26 February) and Friday as part of Congress’s investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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