SIR Keir Starmer stood by Lord Mandelson despite knowing the ex-US ambassador’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein were under investigation.
The PM admitted today that he had been informed of a Foreign Office inquiry into a trove of correspondence between the Labour peer and the convicted paedophile.
Sir Keir Starmer today admitted he knew Lord Mandelson was being probed over emails to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – but continued to back him at PMQs[/caption]
But he didn’t ask for details about the content of the emails – and then went on to defend the disgraced top diplomat at PMQs last week.
Sir Keir was also aware that further damning revelations were imminent about Lord Mandelson, as the former ambassador had admitted “very embarrassing” messages were bound to emerge.
The admission is set to stoke fury among Sir Keir’s critics and Labour MPs, many of whom have been privately scathing about No.10’s handling of the controversy.
In his first remarks since dismissing Lord Mandelson, Sir Keir insisted he would never have appointed the Labour stalwart had he been fully aware of his ties to Epstein.
The embattled PM declared: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”
Addressing his robust defence of the ex-US ambassador during PMQs, he said: “What I knew before PMQs was that there had been media enquiries.
“I didn’t know the content of the Bloomberg emails, and I knew that questions had been put to Peter that he had not yet answered, and he hadn’t answered them by the time I got to PMQs.
“I knew that there were questions that had been put to him, but I didn’t know what answers he was going to give to those questions.”
The PM fired Lord Mandelson last week but continues to face fury over his decision to appoint the peer, whose ties to Epstein were already public knowledge.
Sir Keir publicly defended Lord Mandelson at PMQs last Wednesday, only to sack him the following day after explosive email exchanges with Epstein were published.
The leaked messages revealed Lord Mandelson had urged Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before the financier was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
One email reportedly showed Lord Mandelson telling Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
