LONDON
UK opposition leader Kemi Badenoch demanded Premier Keir Starmer’s resignation because of the appointment of Peter Mandelson, saying he has “put national security at risk’ and that ‘the country deserves better.”
Lawmakers began an emergency debate in the House of Commons on the government’s handling of the vetting of the appointment of Mandelson to US ambassador, following evidence given by former Foreign Office Chief Olly Robbins to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
Robbins said there had been a “very very strong expectation” from No. 10 when he took up his role in January last year that Mandelson “needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible.”
Opening the debate, Conservative leader Badenoch said she had called the session “because of the seriousness of the situation the country is now in.”
“This whole affair just goes to show why this country is heading in such a woeful direction under the prime minister’s incurious regime,” she said. “His defense yesterday summed it up. He says that no one told him that he never thought to ask.”
Badenoch accused the prime minister of failing to take responsibility for mistakes.
“It is clear that the prime minister has no intention of facing up to his mistakes. It’s clear now that he is not a leader, and he has no intention of doing the honorable thing,” she said.
“This house deserves better. The country deserves better. The prime minister is not fit for office.
“The first duty of any prime minister is to keep this country safe. This prime minister has put the country’s national security at risk. He must take responsibility. It is time for him to go.”
Starmer told MPs last Wednesday that he made a “wrong” judgment in appointing Mandelson, who has been linked to the now-late convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, in a statement to the House of Commons on the vetting process surrounding the appointment.
