In a statement, the British Prime Minister's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, said that the turmoil surrounding the fired ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, has damaged the country:
"The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and confidence in politics," the statement said, according to the BBC.
Mandelson had close ties to the late, convicted American financier Jeffrey Epstein. McSweeney said he was responsible for Mandelson's appointment as ambassador in 2024, that it had been the "wrong" decision, and that he takes "full responsibility" for advising Starmer to appoint him.
Criticism is growing within the ruling Labour Party and among leading MPs that party leader and Prime Minister Starmer should also resign over Mandelson's previous close contacts with Epstein, before Epstein took his own life in custody in 2019.
Mandelson has previously refrained from giving details of his close contacts with Epstein. The former influential Labour figure, Mandelson, has not been charged with any sexual offences relating to his contacts with Epstein, but there is an ongoing police investigation in the UK.
