Kemi Badenoch has accused Keir Starmer of being dishonest regarding Peter Mandelson’s appointment, amid mounting allegations of a cover-up.
The Conservative leader has called for an investigation into whether Starmer misled Members of Parliament concerning the controversial decision to appoint Mandelson as the United States ambassador.
Badenoch also suggested that damaging documents were removed from this week’s Mandelson files to protect the Prime Minister’s already tarnished reputation. Starmer, on the other hand, issued another apology for deciding to send Mandelson to Washington, despite being aware of Mandelson’s continued friendship with Jeffrey Epstein long after Epstein’s conviction for child sex offenses.
Nevertheless, Badenoch insisted that Starmer should resign, stating, “I am astonished the Prime Minister can actually look himself in the mirror right now. It is very clear that he told lie after lie after lie about the appointment of Peter Mandelson. He has been dishonest with Parliament and with the country.”
She urged Labour MPs to consider whether Starmer is fit to lead the country, given the circumstances.
The Conservative Party has called on the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to probe the “serious deficiencies in the released material.” They have also requested an investigation into whether Starmer misled Parliament by asserting that “full due process was followed” during Mandelson’s appointment.
On Wednesday, Downing Street finally published the first batch of documents surrounding Mandelson’s appointment in December 2024. But although they confirm Sir Keir was warned about the disgraced peer’s ‘particularly close’ relationship with Epstein, his response is not recorded. The documents contain no record of what Sir Keir thought about Mandelson or why he pushed through the appointment after being told it was a ‘reputational risk’ to the Government.
Mrs Badenoch said ‘a lot of information is missing’ from the files. She said it was not credible that no record was kept of why Sir Keir wanted to appoint Mandelson or how he responded to being told the Labour grandee had remained friends with Epstein following his conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008.
Kemi Badenoch yesterday accused Keir Starmer of lying about Peter Mandelson’s appointment, amid growing claims of a cover-up (The Tory leader is pictured on October 8, 2025)
Sir Keir yesterday issued another grovelling apology over his decision to send Mandelson to Washington (The PM and Mandelson together on February 26, 2025)
‘I’ve been a minister and a secretary of state,’ she said. ‘The comments which Keir Starmer would have put on the (red box) notes – those are the cover notes where you explain what you want to happen – are missing. They have been removed. We need the full details of what the Prime Minister did. There is still a cover-up going on.’
The Conservatives also claimed that ministers broke government rules on public spending in handing Mandelson an extraordinary £75,000 golden goodbye after sacking him over his friendship with Epstein. One senior figure described the pay-off as ‘hush money’. In his first public comment since the files were published, Sir Keir said he took ‘full responsibility’ for the appointment, which was made against the advice of his national security adviser Jonathan Powell.
He said: ‘It was me that made a mistake, and it’s me that makes the apology to the victims of Epstein, and I do that.’ Downing Street rejected claims of a cover-up and Whitehall sources denied that documents had been redacted. But the PM’s spokesman was unable to explain why Sir Keir apparently offered no comment on the notes contained in his red box.
No 10 also stuck by the PM’s claim that the full procedures in place at the time were followed. But this week’s documents record Mr Powell saying that Mandelson’s appointment was ‘weirdly rushed’.
In a letter to Sir Laurie, Tory frontbencher Alex Burghart said this week’s documents ‘contradict’ statements made by Sir Keir to Parliament. He added that the revelations about the ‘rushed’ appointment and the bypassing of vetting procedures contradicted the PM’s claim that proper procedures were followed.
Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman, who pursued Boris Johnson over claims of misleading Parliament, said Sir Keir had to expect the same treatment.
The revelations have triggered anger on the Labour backbenches – and there are growing fears about what might emerge in the next, much bigger, batch of files in the coming weeks.
Papers released this week showed government vetting highlighted Mandelson’s ‘close’ friendship with Jeffrey Epstein (pictured together) before he was made US ambassador
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused the PM of allowing Labour to be ‘dragged into the gutter’ by Mandelson and his allies.
Fellow Left-winger Nadia Whittome said: ‘Victims of child sexual abuse deserve our moral consistency. How did the PM think Mandelson’s appointment would make them feel? Factional politics took priority above everything else, and that is disgraceful.’
