Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff has admitted a “serious error of judgement” over decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
Morgan McSweeney also blamed Brexit for giving the disgraced Labour grandee the UK’s top diplomatic role.
He said: “The reason why I thought he was the right choice is because Britain was exposed… after Brexit, we left the European Union without any US trade deal. And for me, honestly, this was the top priority of the Prime Minister, was to get a US trade deal with the Americans.
“And I thought that, based on Mandelson’s experience as an EU trade commissioner, that made him the strongest candidate.
“But like everybody else, I made clear to the Prime Minister, there was pros and cons, and there was risks. I don’t think the Prime Minister would have chosen Mandelson if Kamala Harris had been elected president.”
It comes after it emerged the Prime Minister demanded the Labour grandee get the job even though top officials feared Mandelson’s friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein made him the wrong choice.
The damning account of events was delivered by Sir Philip Barton, former chief civil servant in the Foreign Office, as he gave evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a nightmare day as his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, will give evidence to MPs later in the morning.
And in the afternoon, MPs will vote in the Commons over whether there should be a parliamentary sleaze probe into claims Sir Keir lied to MPs.
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