9 Bombshells From Starmer's Ex-Top Aide Morgan McSweeney Over Mandelson Hire

The PM's former chief of staff was speaking publicly before a committee of MPs for the first time over his "confidante," Peter Mandelson.

Political Correspondent

Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has spoken out over the government’s controversial decision to hire Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US for the first time.

He was today scrutinised by MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee over the ex-Labour peer’s appointment.

McSweeney resigned from his senior role in February this year, taking full responsibility for encouraging the prime minister’s to hire Mandelson despite his known links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer’s premiership now hangs in the balance after the Guardian reported Mandelson had failed his security vetting – but was still hired as the government’s attache to Washington.

Here’s what we learned from McSweeney’s lengthy evidence session.

1. McSweeney Calls Mandelson’s Appointment A ‘Serious Error Of Judgement’

In his opening remarks, McSweeney immediately took responsibility for supporting Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, calling it “a serious error of judgment.”

He said: “The prime minister advice relied on my advice and I got it wrong.”

2. McSweeney Insists He Did Not Try To ‘Push Anything Through’

The former senior aide said he did not tell anyone to ignore advice from vetting officials when it came to Mandelson.

He claimed he made a recommendation based off his judgement of Mandelson’s “experience, relationships and political skills”.

He said: “What I did not do was oversee national security vetting, ask officials to ignore procedures, request that steps should be skipped, or communicate, explicitly or implicitly, the checks should be cleared at all costs.”

“Like everyone else, I could see there was pros and cons in the appointment and I worried that it would go wrong so I didn’t try to push anything through,” he added.

3. Mandelson Would Not Have Got The Job If Harris Won The US........

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