Morgan McSweeney says advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson was ‘serious error of judgment’ – UK politics live
Morgan McSweeney admitted that advising Prime Minister Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador was a 'serious error of judgment' amid scrutiny over the vetting process. MPs rejected a Conservative proposal to refer Starmer to a privileges committee inquiry, though some Labour MPs expressed concerns about transparency. McSweeney stated that Mandelson did not disclose the full truth about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, which he described as deeply distressing.
- ▪Morgan McSweeney admitted that recommending Peter Mandelson for US ambassador was a 'serious error of judgment'.
- ▪McSweeney stated that Mandelson did not provide the full truth about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which caused him significant personal distress.
- ▪Philip Barton, former Foreign Office chief, said the Mandelson appointment raised more red flags than any other and that vetting should have occurred before the appointment.
- ▪McSweeney denied instructing officials to bypass vetting procedures or ensure Mandelson’s appointment 'at all costs'.
- ▪MPs rejected a Conservative motion to refer Starmer to the privileges committee, despite criticism from some Labour MPs about the handling of the appointment.
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| Original publisher | the Guardian |
| Canonical URL | https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/apr/28/keir-starmer-labour-peter-mandelson-vetting-morgan-mcsweeney-kemi-badenoch-vote-uk-politics-latest-news-updates |
| Publication time | Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:17:36 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-04-28T07:55:53.258Z |
| Last seen | 2026-04-28T10:24:27.523Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | 3sSG5cgAtrzB · 3 stories |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Politics live with Andrew SparrowPoliticsUK politics: Starmer avoids privileges committee inquiry into vetting of Peter Mandelson – as it happenedMPs rejected a Conservative party proposal for the prime minister to face a parliamentary inquiry into his appointment of Peter Mandelson Updated 28 Apr 2026Nadeem Badshah (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)Tue 28 Apr 2026 14.07 EDTFirst published on Tue 28 Apr 2026 03.42 EDTShareKey events28 Apr 2026A summary of today's developments28 Apr 2026MPs reject Conservative proposal over Mandelson28 Apr 2026Iranian ambassador summoned over ‘unacceptable’ social media post28 Apr 2026Peers drop opposition to schools bill after ministers promise 'age or functionality restrictions' on social media for under-1628 Apr 2026Carla Denyer claims Reeves' interest…
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