Keir Starmer did not lie to MPs and will not resign over the Mandelson vetting scandal, according to a Cabinet minister.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said that Starmer was “absolutely furious”, and denied that he had misled Parliament over the scandal by saying full due process had been followed including over vetting.
Sir Olly Robbins has been effectively sacked following the disclosure that the Foreign Office overruled a security vetting process to clear Peter Mandelson to become UK ambassador to the US despite his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, something Starmer only found out about this week.
The Prime Minister will face MPs on Monday amid growing calls for his resignation.
Here is a full chronology of events regarding Mandelson’s vetting, including all the new revelations.
Timeline of events
December 11 2024
Nine days before Mandelson is confirmed as ambassador, Starmer is given a due diligence report into the Labour grandee, warning him of numerous conflicts of interest and describing him as carrying a "reputational risk".
The report finds that Mandelson maintained a “particularly close relationship” with Epstein, including the fact that he stayed at Epstein's New York house in 2009 while the financier was serving his time in jail.
It also flags other reputational risks including financial conflicts of interest, Mandelson’s two previous resignations from government, and past political comments.
Starmer has maintained he did not know the extent and depth of the pair's relationship when Mandelson was appointed.
December 19 2024
Starmer declares he is "delighted to appoint" Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, saying: "Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role."
December 23 2024
The Foreign Office emails Mandelson to tell him he will begin receiving "high-tier" briefings from January 6 onwards, before his security vetting is complete.
January 28 2025
After Starmer has already announced Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US, UK Security Vetting (UKSV) formally denies Mandelson clearance following a full background check, according to a Guardian report.
The report claims that UKSV informed the Foreign Office that the risk involving Mandelson meant that his clearance should be denied - however within 48 hours, officials used override power to grant clearance anyway.
February 10 2025
Mandelson officially begins his tenure in Washington as the UK's ambassador.
September 9 2025
The US House Oversight Committee releases documents from a book compiled for Epstein's 50th birthday, including messages from Mandelson referring to the paedophile as his "best pal".
September 11 2025
Mandelson is removed as ambassador, the Foreign Office stating that Mandelson's relationship with Epstein was "materially different from that known at the time of his appointment."
September 12 2025
In a call between then national security adviser Jonathan Powell and Starmer's general counsel, Powell says he found the appointment of Mandelson "weirdly rushed,” adding that he raised concerns with Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, but was told they had been addressed.
February 1 2026
Mandelson resigns from the Labour Party following allegations that he received payments from Epstein. He says he has no recollection of receiving these payments and does not know if the documents showing them were genuine.
February 4 2026
During PMQs, Starmer admits that he knew of Mandelson's friendship with Epstein, but that the former ambassador had "lied repeatedly to my team before and during his tenure”.
He added: "Mandelson betrayed our country, our parliament, and my party. I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government."
Asked in Parliament whether vetting carried out before Lord Mandelson's appointment had included his ongoing relationship with Epstein, Starmer replied: "Yes, it did."
February 5 2026
Starmer publicly states that Mandelson had been cleared by the vetting.
At a press conference in Hastings, Starmer said there had been “security vetting, carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role.
“You have to go through that before you take up the post. Clearly both the due diligence and the security vetting need to be looked at again.”
February 23 2026
Mandelson is arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
March 11 2026
The government releases 147 pages of documents relating to Mandelson's vetting and appointment as ambassador.
Early April 2026
Starmer is informed internally that Mandelson had actually failed vetting. Downing Street insiders have since said he was “furious” about having been kept in the dark about the decision.
April 16 2026
The Guardian reveals that Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance, a decision that was then overruled by officials in the Foreign Office.
Downing Street confirms the Guardian’s story, stressing that Starmer had no knowledge that security officials advised Mandelson should not be given clearance, and said responsibility lay with the Foreign Office.
The revelation causes political outrage, with questions that Parliament was misled and calls for Starmer’s resignation.
April 17 2026
The Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, leaves his post over the scandal.
What have people said?
Downing Street released a statement on Thursday, with a spokesperson saying: “The decision to grant developed vetting to Peter Mandelson against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting [UKSV] was taken by officials in the FCDO.
“Neither the prime minister, nor any government minister, was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted developed vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier this week.
“Once the prime minister was informed he immediately instructed officials to establish the facts about why the developed vetting was granted, in order to enact plans to update the House of Commons.”
Starmer said: “That I wasn’t told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he was appointed is staggering.
“That I wasn’t told that he had failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable. Not only was I not told, no minister was told, and I’m absolutely furious about that.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said "It is either, he knew that Mandelson failed the security vetting and lied to us in Parliament, on TV repeatedly, or he didn't know, didn't ask and said he had passed the security vetting - which means he is hopelessly incompetent.”
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said: “If this is true, the PM should’ve told Parliament at the earliest opportunity, not waited for the media to force the truth out. His failure to do that alone is surely a breach of the Ministerial Code.”
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “The question is was it Olly Robbins who was a senior civil servant who had only been in the post a couple of weeks and who is going to say ‘this political appointment, they failed their security vetting, I’m going to decide all by myself that I’m going to override this and have him appointed anyway’. Or was he being pushed by someone else?”
