British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has apologised to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Peter Mandelson as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States, despite the diplomat’s close ties to the late sex offender.
“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,” Starmer said in a speech given from southern England on Thursday.
The prime minister had appointed Mandelson to be ambassador to the US in December 2024.
Starmer fired Mandelson last September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late American financier’s 2008 US conviction for sex offences involving minors.
But the prime minister now faces fresh pressure over the appointment after the US Justice Department last week released files revealing new details of Mandelson’s close relationship with Epstein.
The files also suggested Mandelson had leaked government documents to Epstein, and that Epstein had recorded payments to Mandelson or his then-partner, now his husband.
Credit: aljazeera.com
