PM set to face fresh questions after Mandelson revelations

Sir Keir Starmer is set to face fresh questions today about his decision to make Lord Mandelson his ambassador to the US, after it emerged he was warned of the former minister's "close" relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The prime minister is expected to speak to the media during a visit to Belfast - it'll be the first time he's quizzed by journalists since the government released the first tranche of documents related to the appointment on Wednesday. They revealed Sir Keir was warned Lord Mandelson was "particularly close" with Epstein and there was a "general reputational risk" to appointing him.

Politics Hub: Catch up on Mandelson files release Lord Mandelson was sacked from the job in Washington DC in September and Sir Keir has claimed he lied repeatedly during the vetting process. The ex-Labour cabinet minister has previously denied any wrongdoing over his relationship with the billionaire paedophile and has apologised to the financier's victims.

But Sir Keir has faced calls to resign from the Conservatives, with Kemi Badenoch saying the files showed he "lied repeatedly about what he knew when, and how". What have the files revealed? The prime minister was informed as part of a "due diligence" report that Lord Mandelson appeared to "maintain a particularly close relationship" with Epstein from 2002 and continuing through the 2000s.

That period included after Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008. The report also said Lord Mandelson stayed in Epstein's house while he was in jail in 2009.

Sir Keir was also informed Lord Mandelson agreed to be a "founding citizen" in 2014 of an ocean conservation group founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's girlfriend, and funded by Epstein. It flagged that all these connections could be a "general reputational risk.