The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, has condemned Keir Starmer for “appalling judgment in appointing” Lord Mandelson to be Britain’s US ambassador. The former top spook, known as ‘C’, took to LBC to condemn the Prime Minister’s decision, warning that either Lord Mandelson lied during his vetting – which one cannot do – or No. 10 made a “massive misjudgement” in appointing him anyway despite the warnings.
Yesterday it was claimed that the security services did flag Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein during the vetting process, but these concerned were ignored by Downing Street. Sir Richard argued: “Bear in mind that Mandelson’s a guy with an integrity problem – he had twice been removed from ministerial office! He has a dodgy background. Okay I’m not saying he isn’t a super talented guy, but he’s a guy with an integrity problem.”
“So if you’re going to appoint him you have to vet him very, very, very carefully.”
The former top spy, who led MI6 during Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq, explained that the vetting process is carried about by the Foreign Office, though it may be that the security service did have a role due to the seniority of the role.
“The vetting of ministers is a slightly grey area, it’s the responsibility of the Director General of MI5, the Prime Minister and people in the Cabinet Office. But this strictly speaking was a departmental appointment, not a ministerial appointment.”
Asked how surprised he was by Lord Mandelson’s appointment in the first place, Sir Richard replied: “Very!”
“I just thought the appointment was highly inappropriate. Now the reason I said that was because of his relationship with Russian oligarchs and Chinese companies since his disappearance from the frontline.
“I thought they were sitting on top of a large explosive charge, which has proved to be the case.”
Yesterday Sky News reported two sources who insist that the security services did flag concerns about Lord Mandelson to No. 10 as part of the vetting process, but were overruled by Downing Street.
This morning Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman defended the vetting system, while suggesting that the emails between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein did not surface. It is understood that the embarrassing love-filled communication between the two were sent from an old email address that Lord Mandelson did not have access to when the vetting process was conducted.
Responding to Sky’s claims, Conservative Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said the revelations are “extraordinary”.
Dame Priti blasted: “For Keir Starmer, and his Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, to have appointed Lord Mandelson despite concerns being raised by the Security Services shows a blatant disregard of all national security considerations and their determination to promote their Labour Party friends.
“Starmer leads a crisis riddled government consumed by a chaos of his own making, because he puts his Party before the needs of our country.
“The country deserves the honest truth this spineless Prime Minister refuses to give them.”