00:00British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised on Thursday to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for
00:06appointing Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington, despite his ties to the disgraced
00:12financier. The Prime Minister said Mandelson had portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew.
00:18In a speech on Thursday, Starmer said he was sorry for having believed Mandelson's lies and
00:24appointed him. I regret making the decision to have appointed him in the first place. Had I known at
00:29the time what I know now or knew in September, I'd have never done it. And that's why today I've
00:34apologised for the fact that I appointed him in the first place and I believed his lies.
00:38Starmer, who has come under intense pressure over the appointment, fired Mandelson in September after
00:45emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late
00:50financier's 2008 conviction for sex offences involving a minor. Mandelson, a major and contentious figure
00:58in the Labour Party since the 1990s, twice had to resign from senior posts in previous administrations
01:06due to scandals over money or ethics.
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