{"id":124633,"date":"2026-04-23T09:53:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=124633"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:53:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:53:53","slug":"uk-pm-wont-resign-over-mandelson-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/","title":{"rendered":"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LONDON(National Times)- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Wednesday that he would not resign, claiming allegations of misleading MPs over his appointment of a party loyalist as UK envoy to Washington had been \u201cput to bed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starmer, facing pressure to resign, addressed MPs after firing the Foreign Ministry\u2019s most senior official, Olly Robbins, blaming him for failing to disclose Mandelson\u2019s clearance problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The premier spoke to lawmakers a day after the foreign ministry\u2019s most senior official, Olly Rob\u00adbins, gave evidence to a parliamentary committee, having been fired by Starmer over the affair last week. Starmer has accused Robbins of failing to tell him about problems that emerged during Mand\u00adelson\u2019s security clearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has repeatedly insisted that, despite previously stating that \u201call due process\u201d had been followed, he would not have allowed the appointment to proceed if he had known that independent vetting officials had recommended security clearance be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starmer told MPs that Robbins clearly answered \u201cno\u201d when asked if he had shared the recommendation \u201cwith me, number 10 or any other ministers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said this clears all allegations of dishonesty against him, adding that although the opposition claimed it was shared with him, it was not. Mandelson was appointed to the top diplomatic post in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The specific risks identified by vetting officials are unknown, but Robbins clarified they are unrelated to Mandelson\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1975228\">ties<\/a>&nbsp;with Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He alleged Downing Street<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993798\">&nbsp;pressured<\/a>&nbsp;officials to approve the appointment, seemingly ignoring security concerns, with a demanding tone of \u201cget it done\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch questioned Starmer\u2019s decision not to retract the appointment, despite other controversies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morgan McSweeney, Starmer\u2019s former top aide who resigned over his role in the crisis, is to appear before lawmakers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON(National Times)- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Wednesday that he would not resign, claiming allegations of misleading MPs over his appointment of a party loyalist as UK envoy to Washington had been \u201cput to bed\u201d. Starmer, facing pressure to resign, addressed MPs after firing the Foreign Ministry\u2019s most senior official, Olly Robbins, blaming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LONDON(National Times)- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Wednesday that he would not resign, claiming allegations of misleading MPs over his appointment of a party loyalist as UK envoy to Washington had been \u201cput to bed\u201d. Starmer, facing pressure to resign, addressed MPs after firing the Foreign Ministry\u2019s most senior official, Olly Robbins, blaming [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T04:53:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-39-4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/\",\"name\":\"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-39-4.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T04:53:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-39-4.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-39-4.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124633\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UK PM \u2018won\u2019t resign\u2019 over Mandelson scandal - Nation","og_description":"LONDON(National Times)- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Wednesday that he would not resign, claiming allegations of misleading MPs over his appointment of a party loyalist as UK envoy to Washington had been \u201cput to bed\u201d. 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