British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has apologized to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for believing “Peter Mandelson’s lies” and appointing him ambassador to the United States. In a speech on Thursday afternoon, the Labor Prime Minister said he was sorry, “for what has been done to you, that so many people in power have let you down”, “and that you now have to experience it all again”.
There is heavy criticism of Starmer’s decision to appoint Labor politician Mandelson from both the opposition and Starmer’s own party. When he did so, in February 2025, it was already known that he and Epstein knew each other. Starmer insists that Mandelson lied about the nature of that relationship, that “no one knew about the depth and darkness” of that relationship. Mandelson was fired in September 2025 when it emerged that he and convicted sex offender Epstein had been good friends.
Now that a new batch of Epstein documents has been released, it appears that Mandelson, as minister, passed on sensitive and confidential information to Epstein. He has “betrayed the country,” Starmer said in a debate with the House of Commons on Wednesday. Starmer is outraged, the House of Commons is too. After repeated questions, the Prime Minister admitted that when appointing Mandelson he knew that his contact with Epstein would continue after he was convicted.
Starmer’s apology feels like that of a Prime Minister ‘fighting for his future’, concludes BBC commentator Chris Mason Thursday. For opposition leader Kemi Badenoch (Conservatives) the matter is not over with Starmer’s apology, she told GB News on Thursday. She invites Labor MPs to hold a vote of confidence in the House of Commons.
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