Keir Starmer today insisted he did not know about Lord Mandelson’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein before defending him at PMQs.

Finally breaking his silence since sacking the US ambassador last week, the premier struggled to address questions about what he knew and when.

He admitted he would never have appointed Lord Mandelson had he been aware of his messages to the notorious paedophile. 

But critics have been alleging there are discrepancies in the government’s narrative, and Sir Keir faced another scandal today as one of his top aides resigned over previously leaked inappropriate WhatsApp messages about Diane Abbott.

When asked if he had been informed before his weekly encounter with Kemi Badenoch, Sir Keir told reporters: ‘It was only on Wednesday, early evening, that I became aware of the Bloomberg emails’ contents.

Keir Starmer today insisted he did not know about Lord Mandelson’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein before defending him at PMQs

Pictured: Lord Mandelson (left) in a fluffy white dressing gown enjoying a chat with Epstein (right)

‘It was only very late on Wednesday when Peter Mandelson replied to the questions that have been put to him by Government officials.

‘And it was on that, basically, I took my decision that he should be removed.

‘Before PMQs, I knew there had been media inquiries. I wasn’t aware of the Bloomberg emails’ content, but I knew questions had been asked of Peter, which he hadn’t answered by the time I reached PMQs. Since there’s a time difference with America, there was a delay, but I knew questions were posed to him, though I didn’t know how he’d respond.’

‘That came later on Wednesday, and that’s why, at that point, I gave the answer I did at PMQs. And that’s the extent of what I knew at the time.’

Sir Keir publicly supported Lord Mandelson during PMQs on Wednesday but dismissed him the next day after email interactions with Epstein were released.

The peer expressed regret over maintaining his relationship with Epstein after his conviction, stating he wished they had never met.

The premier told broadcasters Lord Mandelson went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment.

But he added: ‘Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.’

Sir Keir remarked: ‘What surfaced last week were emails… indicating that Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was significantly different from what I understood when I appointed him.’

‘On top of that, what the email showed was he was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time that for me, went and cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years, and this Government’s approach.

‘On top of that, what emerged last week, on Wednesday evening late, were Peter Mandelson’s responses to questions that have been put to him by Government officials. I looked at those responses, and I did not find them at all satisfying.

‘And therefore, on the basis of those three things – the nature and extent of the relationship being far different to what I’d understood to be the position at the point of appointment, the questioning and challenging of the conviction, which, as I say, goes to the heart and cuts across what this Government is doing on violence against women and girls and the unsatisfactory nature of responses from Peter Mandelson last week to the inquires made of him by Government officials – I took the decision to remove him.’

On the eve of Donald Trump’s state visit, the government benches are seething with fury over the latest example of the premier’s dire judgment. 

MPs are openly warning that Sir Keir – who entered No10 with a massive majority just last year – only has months to turn things around. 

The May elections have been identified as a make-or-break moment, with fears Nigel Farage could see another huge surge.

However, Sir Keir is facing even more immediate challenges over what was known when about Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. The PM will be out and about unveiling details of a new nuclear power deal with America later. 

It has emerged that Downing Street became aware of the damning correspondence on Tuesday – two days before he was sacked. 

The Daily Mail can reveal No 10 was told then that the emails contained suggestions by Lord Mandelson that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged.

But sources insisted that the information, which came in a 2,000-word memo from Bloomberg News which was seeking comment from Lord Mandelson, was not shared with Sir Keir, who told MPs during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions that he had ‘confidence’ in his man in Washington.

Pressure is mounting on the PM’s all-powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, with several MPs calling for him to be sacked

Meanwhile, Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Oliver Robbins, formerly Theresa May’s bungling Brexit chief, was seeking a response from Lord Mandelson about the emails, which only came later – on Wednesday afternoon.

On Thursday morning, the Foreign Office said that the ‘suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information’ and that ‘in light of that… he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect’. 

The revelation adds to pressure on the PM’s all-powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, with several MPs calling for him to be sacked.