UKs Starmer Averts Inquiry Into Appointment of Epstein-Linked US Ambassador Mandelson

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) talks with British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence in Washington on Feb. 26, 2025. Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, fileBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer averted a lawmakers’ inquiry into his appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States when his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were in the public domain.Starmer has faced calls from opposition parties to resign over the Mandelson scandal, with questions remaining about whether he bent the rules to appoint the Labour grandee as the UK’s top Washington diplomat. He has also been criticized within his own party, with a small number of Labour lawmakers, including Scottish Labour leader Anas Sawar, calling on him to step down.