No way to raise Mandelson concerns, former senior official

Former senior official Sir Philip Barton has told MPs there was no way for him to raise his concerns about Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US. Sir Philip said no-one in Downing Street consulted him before making the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson when he was the top civil servant in the Foreign Office in 2024. Speaking to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Philip said he thought appointing Lord Mandelson could be a "potentially difficult issue" because of the Labour peer's known links to the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. But he said he was "presented with a decision" made by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and "told to get on with it". Sir Philip said he knew Epstein was "a controversial figure" in the US, adding: "I was worried that this could become a problem in future." "That is a very candid account of probably what I was thinking at the time, but there was no space or avenue or mechanism for me to put that on the table," Sir Philip said. Sir Philip was appearing in front of the committee to answer questions about the process to vet Lord Mandelson before he took up the high-profile diplomatic role in Washington DC. Sir Philip was p