President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have not seen eye to eye on much lately. However, the president seemed to have found some common ground with Starmer on at least one matter: the prime minister’s appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States was a bad selection. Trump commented about Starmer choosing Mendelson in a social media post late Monday night.
“Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom acknowledged that he ‘exercised wrong judgement’ when he chose his Ambassador to Washington,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. “I agree, he was a really bad pick.”
“Plenty of time to recover, however!” Trump added.
Mandelson served as British ambassador to the U.S. from February to September 2025. He resigned from the position in September after revelations linking him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Controversy ensued after his resignation over how Mandelson passed the initial vetting process and was approved to serve in the position. Reports showed that multiple concerns were raised in his background check, but later dismissed by Starmer. Mandelson was arrested on February 23, 2026, over misconduct allegations in connection with his association with Epstein.
On Monday, Starmer appeared at the House of Commons to explain his appointment of Mandelson despite concerns raised during Mandelson’s background check, which, as mentioned above, Starmer dismissed. The British prime minister claimed that employees of Britain’s Foreign Office failed to pass the red flags on Mandelson “to me, to the foreign secretary, to her predecessor, the deputy prime minister, to any other minister, or even to the former Cabinet secretary.” He blamed former Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins for the mishap.
“I know many members across the House will find these facts to be incredible,” Starmer said in Parliament on Monday. “To that, I can only say they are right. It beggars belief that throughout this timeline, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold information from senior ministers.”
Multiple Members of Parliament doubted Starmer’s explanation and, in their rebuke of the British prime minister, were ejected for expressing doubt and calling him a liar, as the Washington Examiner previously reported. One of these MPs was Zarah Sultana.
MPS EJECTED FOR CALLING STARMER A ‘LIAR’ AS HE ADMITS MANDELSON VETTING MISTAKE ‘BEGGARS BELIEF’
“In September, the prime minister stood at this dispatch box and told the House he had ‘full confidence’ in Peter Mandelson, a man whose relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was public knowledge,” said Sultana. “The prime minister knew and backed him anyway. Now he claims he had ‘no idea’ that this twice-fired government minister had failed MI6 vetting, despite journalists putting that directly to Downing Street that very same month.”
“We all know that the prime minister appointed Mandelson because he owes his job to him,” Sultana added. “He appointed him, he defended him, and now he claims to know nothing. He’s gaslighting the nation, so let’s call this out for what it is. The prime minister is a bare-faced liar, and if he had any decency left, he would resign.”