The huge unanswered question for Starmer about Mandelson’s appointment

Did Keir Starmer know about the emails between the US ambassador and Jeffrey Epstein? ITV News Political Editor Robert Peston on Starmer's unanswered questions

There is an enormous unanswered question for the prime minister in the Mandelson affair.

Why in December did he appoint Lord Mandelson to be US ambassador even though Mandelson admitted during the vetting process that he continued to be a friend and supporter “for some years” of Jeffrey Epstein after the billionaire was prosecuted and jailed for criminal paedophile offences?

Downing Street has said that the emails from Mandelson to Epstein - leaked to Bloomberg and that included Mandelson telling the late convicted paedophile to “fight for early release," adding, “I think the world of you” and “your friends stay with you and love you” - represented materially new information.

It was their publication on Wednesday evening that pushed the PM to sack Mandelson on Thursday morning.

But a source close to Mandelson says he told government officials during the appointment process in December why he “was persuaded to support him…and that this [friendship with Epstein] had gone on for some years” - which Mandelson subsequently regretted.

The source says nothing was put to Mandelson by the Foreign Office after Bloomberg sent a letter about its leak last Monday, prior to publication, and before Mandelson was sacked, that represented “new info, no ‘evidence’, nothing that has come to light since…appointment.”

Or at least Mandelson believed when asked on Tuesday for his response to Bloomberg’s letter by Sir Oliver Robbins, permanent under secretary at the FCDO, that he was repeating information already known to the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

So, in the simplest terms, why did Starmer appoint Mandelson, given that Mandelson told government officials about his continued friendship with Epstein after he was convicted of soliciting a child?

Did these officials think it was acceptable to appoint him?

What did they tell Starmer about this?

And what did Starmer actually know about all of this when making the controversial decision to appoint Mandelson?

I’ve asked Downing Street for a response. Nothing so far. But I am told the PM will answer these questions himself later today.

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