The weekly hearing of the British Prime Minister came the day after Olly Robbins, a former senior official in the British Foreign Office, accused Downing Street of adopting a "rejecting attitude" and "constant pressure" regarding the appointment of the country's former ambassador Peter Mandelson.
The critical voices in the House of Commons were not silenced during the hearing. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch believes that Keir Starmer ignored early warnings about Mandelson's unsuitability as ambassador and accused Starmer of nepotism, reports the BBC .
Demands Starmer's resignation
The opposition questioned Starmer's decision last week to sack civil servant Olly Robbins. Green Party MP Ellie Chown accused Starmer of "throwing a civil servant under the bus" and said it would be "best" for Starmer to resign.
During the hearing, Starmer reiterated that appointing Mandelson was a mistake, but insisted he knew nothing and pointed to his own staff's "serious misjudgment" in failing to inform him that Mandelson had failed the internal security clearance.
Mandelson's connections to Epstein
Peter Mandelson was nominated as UK ambassador to the United States on December 20, 2024 - despite knowledge of his connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson was sacked on 11 September 2025 after email correspondence with Epstein was made public. The opposition demanded Keir Starmer's resignation even then, and since then questions about Starmer's handling have only increased.
At the beginning of March this year, internal government documents were made public, and on April 16 it was revealed that Peter Mandelson was appointed despite the Foreign Office knowing that he had not passed the security clearance.
Criticized internally
Critical voices within Starmer's own Labour Party have been raised, and in parliament on Wednesday there was a noticeable silence from the Labour benches. A change of leadership now would be inopportune - in three weeks there will be elections for the regional parliaments in Wales and Scotland, as well as local elections across England.
