LONDON, April 17 — The United Kingdom's (UK) Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced renewed calls from his political opponents on Friday to resign after it was revealed that his former ambassador to the United States failed security vetting and was still allowed to take up the job.
On Thursday, the government confirmed that Peter Mandelson, who was subsequently fired after Starmer said he had lied about the strength of his relationship with the deceased financier and offender Jeffrey Epstein, had failed his security vetting before taking up the role.
It said Starmer was unaware that officials in the Foreign Office had overruled the vetting recommendation, and a source said the Foreign Ministry's most senior official Ollie Robbins would leave his role after losing Starmer's confidence.
"I do not think the Prime Minister can get out of his responsibility by sacking Ollie Robbins. I think the buck has to stop with Mr Starmer.
"I think the evidence suggests that he misled the Commons (Parliament) and misled the public. That is against all the rules, and that is why we have called for him to go," Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey told BBC Radio.
Starmer has previously apologised for the appointment but defended his own actions, accusing Mandelson of creating a "litany of deceit" about his ties to Epstein and promising to release documents about how he was appointed.
Senior minister Darren Jones told LBC that Starmer was "furious" at not being told Mandelson had failed the security vetting and would update Parliament on Monday. He said Starmer had not misled Parliament and that the process was followed, but was flawed.
"I do not think it brings the Prime Minister's future into question," he said.
Mandelson is under police investigation for allegedly leaking government documents to Epstein. He has not commented publicly on allegations that aked documents, and a lawyer for Mandelson did not provide a comment on Thursday about the vetting process.
