WASHINGTON — The foreign affairs select committee concluded that Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK ambassador to the United States was "nothing short of disastrous." The committee stated the appointment was "highly damaging" for the British government and "painful and offensive to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein."

The committee recommended that political selections for ambassador posts should be subject to a veto by Members of Parliament. It also recommended that public appointments should not be announced until security clearance has been granted.

Peter Mandelson was sacked in September 2025. This occurred after the UK's security vetting agency recommended in late January 2025 that he should not be awarded high-level security clearance. The Foreign Office overruled this recommendation, and the US government and King Charles approved Mandelson's role. Email exchanges between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein were published by the US Department of Justice.

Keir Starmer announced Mandelson as the next ambassador to the United States before senior civil servants reviewed the vetting agency's findings. Starmer later apologized for the appointment and sacked Olly Robbins, who was the head of the Foreign Office. Starmer stated he lost confidence in Robbins for failing to inform him that Mandelson had failed vetting.

Robbins had decided to give Mandelson security clearance with "mitigations," despite describing the vetting finding as "borderline." The foreign affairs select committee said Robbins believed he was "delivering the outcome that was wanted." The committee concluded Robbins' dismissal "seems to have been taken without full due process and the establishment of the facts." No evidence of the mitigations for Mandelson's security clearance has been published.

The security vetting agency cited Mandelson's associations with senior figures in China, Russia, and Israel as concerns, along with a £1 million loan to Mandelson. Senior officials debated whether Mandelson needed security vetting because he was a member of the House of Lords and the privy council. Extensive correspondence between senior officials existed around the time Mandelson's appointment was announced in December 2024.

The foreign affairs select committee criticized the record keeping by the Foreign Office and Downing Street regarding Mandelson's appointment. The Metropolitan police are withholding some documents that may be relevant to ongoing investigations into the appointment. Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP, chairs the foreign affairs select committee.