British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer faced a barrage of criticism in the House of Commons pn Monday over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal.
It was disclosed last week that Mr Mandelson was able to take up the role of the UK’s ambassador to the United States despite the fact he had failed security vetting.
The former Labour minister lost his post over his ties to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Mandelson has since spoken of his regret about his association with Epstein and expressed sympathy with survivors of his crimes.
In his statement to the House of Commons, Sir Keir insisted he took personal responsibility for the ultimate decision to appoint the controversial former Cabinet minister to the Washington post.
He said: “At the heart of this, there is also a judgment I made that was wrong. I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson. I take responsibility for that decision, and I apologise again to the victims of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who were clearly failed by my decision.”
Sir Keir said he only found out last Tuesday that Lord Mandelson had been given developed vetting clearance “against the specific recommendation of the United Kingdom Security Vetting” (USV).
He said the UKSV recommendation “could and should have been shared with me” and if he had known “I would not have gone ahead with the appointment.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir’s claim in the Commons that “full due process” was followed was not true.
She said that earlier Monday Downing Street admitted that the PM had inadvertently misled the House of Commons, but that he did not repeat that in his statement on Monday.
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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey highlighted that Sir Keir previously took former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to task for misleading Parliament.
He said the fact he had to make this statement on Monday showed “how badly he had failed” and let down the millions of people who are “desperate for change”.
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