In brief
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer publicly addressed the Epstein victims, issuing a heartfelt apology for trusting Lord Mandelson's misleading statements regarding his past associations with Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer's admission comes as his leadership faces scrutiny and calls for accountability from both opposition parties and disgruntled members of his own party. The situation puts his premiership in a precarious position as he vows to amend the misjudgment and correct the public wrongs.
Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for believing Lord Mandelson's lies and appointing him as the UK's ambassador to the US.
The prime minister began a planned speech on funding to improve local communities by addressing the growing anger over how he had dealt with the issue.
While he acknowledged it had been publicly known for some time that Lord Mandelson knew Epstein, he said: None of us knew the depths and the darkness of that relationship.
However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the PM's position was untenable, while the Liberal Democrats called for a confidence vote to see if Labour MPs supported him.
The prime minister is facing calls from some of his own MPs to stand down.
While the handful of backbenchers to do so publicly are frequent critics of the PM, many more have raised concerns privately.
Sir Keir's former political director Luke Sullivan said he thought the PM was fighting for his premiership.
In a speech earlier, Sir Keir said he regretted appointing Lord Mandelson and would not have done so if he had known what he knows now.
Directly addressing Epstein's victims, he said: I am sorry, sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson's lies and appointed him and sorry that even now you're forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.
Sir Keir has promised to release files, which he says will prove Lord Mandelson lied about the extent of his friendship with Epstein when he was being vetted for the US ambassador role.
After a Commons vote, the government will pass documents which could damage national security or diplomatic relations to Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), rather than withholding them.
The ISC says the government should decide which documents are made public - and which are not.
The government had previously planned to withhold material, but pressure from Labour backbenchers led to a reconsideration.
Downing Street has insisted the PM has full confidence in his chief of staff, despite calls for accountability for the appointment decision. Lord Mandelson was sacked last September following the emergence of new emails revealing supportive messages he sent to Epstein after his conviction for sex offences.
This ongoing scandal has raised serious questions regarding the moral and political judgment of leaders involved, putting Starmer's premiership at risk as he seeks to navigate the fallout.
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