Former close aide to Keir Starmer admitted on Tuesday he was “wrong” to back the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S., amid mounting political pressure.
Morgan McSweeney, once Keir Starmer’s closest aide and former chief of staff, told a parliamentary committee that he took responsibility for advising the Prime Minister to support Mandelson’s appointment, but denied bypassing official procedures.
"I advised the Prime Minister in support of that appointment, and I was wrong to do so. What I did not do was oversee national security vetting, ask officials to ignore procedures, request that steps should be skipped, or communicate explicitly or implicitly that checks should be cleared at all costs,” he said.
McSweeney added that his support for the 72-year-old Mandelson, who maintained a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from an under-18 girl, amounted to a “serious error of judgement.”
McSweeney’s testimony comes as Starmer faces a vote by MPs later on Tuesday on whether to launch a parliamentary investigation into claims he misled the House of Commons over Mandelson’s vetting.
Anger over Mandelson’s appointment in late 2024 has resurfaced after it emerged he was granted security clearance despite concerns raised during screening.
Starmer, who has faced calls to resign, has said he was "wrong" to appoint Mandelson and has expressed regret. However, he maintains that all proper processes were followed. He has also criticised officials for failing to inform him that a security vetting body had advised against the appointment.
Earlier on Tuesday, former senior Foreign Office official Philip Barton said there had been a clear urgency to confirm Mandelson’s appointment in time for Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January 2025.
Barton told the committee he had not been consulted and that Starmer’s office appeared “uninterested” in the vetting process required for security clearance.
Starmer had praised Mandelson’s “unrivalled experience” when appointing him to Britain’s top diplomatic post in late 2024. However, the Prime Minister dismissed him less than a year later, in September 2025, after emails revealed the extent of his links to Epstein.
British police arrested Mandelson in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has not been charged and faces no allegations of sexual misconduct.
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