London
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The chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned on Sunday over the scandal round Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US, despite his links to disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Morgan McSweeney stated in a press release to reporters on Sunday.
The Downing Street chief of staff is essentially the most senior political adviser to the UK prime minister.
McSweeney stated he took “full responsibility” for advising Starmer to make the appointment final 12 months, including “in the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”
“While I did not oversee the due diligence and vetting process, I believe that process must now be fundamentally overhauled. This cannot simply be a gesture but a safeguard for the future,” McSweeney stated.
Starmer thanked the outgoing chief of staff for his service and dedication to the Labour Party. “It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country,” the prime minister stated in a press release.
The most up-to-date tranche of Epstein files launched by the US Justice Department triggered a police investigation into Mandelson, who has been accused of passing on market-sensitive authorities data that was of clear monetary curiosity to Epstein following the 2008 monetary disaster. Police raided two of Mandelson’s properties on Friday as half of their investigation into misconduct in public workplace.
Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party final Sunday and stop the House of Lords, the higher chamber of Britain’s parliament, on Wednesday. NCS has been unable to contact Mandelson this week.
The Mandelson scandal has plunged Keir Starmer’s government into crisis and raised questions in regards to the prime minister’s political judgment. Starmer appointed Mandelson as ambassador final 12 months, despite his well-known friendship with Epstein, which continued after the financier was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from an underage lady.
NCS’s Christian Edwards contributed reporting.