Keir Starmer apologizes to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims

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Sir Keir Starmer has apologized to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for appointing Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the US, as he seeks to defuse Labor’s anger over his handling of the scandal.

“None of us knew the depth and darkness of this relationship,” Starmer said, at a time when a growing number of Labor MPs said the British Prime Minister’s term in the tenth position was coming to an end.

“He will limp for a longer period towards an uncertain end that is closer than ever,” one minister said, although Labor MPs appeared unsure exactly when or how they might seek to oust the Prime Minister.

Starmer He is under pressure after admitting that he sent Mandelson to Washington in February 2025 despite knowing that his counterpart continued his friendship with him. Epstein After the disgraced financier was jailed for child sex offences.

But Starmer insisted on Thursday that he was not about to resign. “I was elected to make a difference for millions of people and that is what I intend to do,” Starmer said after giving a speech in East Sussex on regional development.

In an attempt to calm the row, Starmer said in his speech to Epstein’s victims: “I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry that so many people in power let you down. I’m sorry for believing Mandelson’s lies and appointing him.”

The relationship between Epstein and Mandelson was previously known, and Starmer said: “When we were going through the recruitment process, we raised questions about the nature and extent of that relationship.”

He said the answers given to these questions were “deliberately intended to create the impression that Mandelson hardly knew Epstein.”

Starmer hopes to release documents to support his claim that Mandelson “lied” about his ties to Epstein, but this has been delayed due to police concerns that it could harm the criminal investigation into the case.

A Downing Street insider said it was unlikely any files would be released this week. The Metropolitan Police is investigating Allegations of misconduct in public office It relates to Mandelson passing sensitive documents to Epstein in 2009, when he was Labour’s business secretary.

Meanwhile, the Intelligence and Security Committee wrote to Starmer on Thursday saying it expected the government to segregate a “limited number” of files relating to Mandelson’s vetting and appointment which it considered might threaten national security or international relations.

Otherwise, she made it clear that she expects the government “very soon” to put all remaining papers before the House of Representatives.

Starmer said he asked Mandelson if he had stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2009 – a visit It was first revealed by FT In 2023 – while the financier was in prison.

But more importantly, Starmer did not tell reporters what Mandelson said in his response or whether he had prompted the topic. “When he gave the answers, I had no reason to believe he was telling anything other than the truth,” he said.

Labor peer Lord Maurice Glassman in January 2025 warned No 10 that it had made a mistake by appointing Mandelson in a memo sent to Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.

Glassman sent the memo, which was seen by the Financial Times, after attending Donald Trump’s inauguration. Starmer had announced his choice of Mandelson the previous month.

“The vast majority of people I met… viewed our appointment of Peter Mandelsohn as an unnecessary provocation. Several people showed me a photo of him blowing out Christmas candles with Jeffrey Epstein,” Glassman wrote. “Quit Peter Mandelson. He is the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place.”

Emails released by the US Department of Justice over the weekend show that Mandelson passed British government documents and market-sensitive information to Epstein, from whom he had previously obtained He took $75,000While he was a minister in Gordon Brown’s government.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for a vote of no confidence in Starmer in the House of Commons, describing his premiership as “indefensible” and saying it was a matter of “when he leaves, not if he leaves.”

At a separate BoE press conference, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said he was “shocked” by the revelations of Mandelson’s dealings with Epstein during the global financial crisis.

Several MPs and their Labor peers have revealed their secret, saying the worsening row could mean the end of Starmer’s premiership.

Both the pound and gold Under pressure With investors concerned about the possibility of a more left-wing government increasing public borrowing.

Revealing the extent of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, who was found dead in a New York prison cell in 2019, raised new questions about the prime minister’s political judgment and rule. McSweeney.

McSweeney, widely seen as the architect of Starmer’s project, has promoted Mandelson’s efforts to gain the top diplomatic job and lobbied unsuccessfully not to be sacked last year.

Additional reporting by Delphine Strauss in London