The Bureau: British documents released related to the vetting process confirmed that Starmer chose Mandelson despite written warnings that the appointment could expose the government to “reputational risk.”
The security services’ concern almost certainly centered on territory The Bureau has been mapping since February: Mandelson’s private dealings with Chinese state-linked financial entities, his role in establishing a Beijing lobbying network while still a serving Cabinet minister, and his communications with Jeffrey Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis — communications that are now the subject of an active Metropolitan Police criminal investigation.
That the vetting scandal and the spy case collapse are part of the same story has become harder to deny…