ABJECT ambassador Peter Mandelson is fighting for his political future amid continuing revelations about his close friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was forced to declare “full confidence” in the perennially controversial Lord Mandelson as he was pushed in the Commons to declare what he knew about the envoy to Washington’s long and intimate association with Epstein.

In a rare Commons win for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch she had Sir Keir on the ropes, asking: “While Lord Mandelson was business secretary, he brokered a deal with Jeffrey Epstein. 

“And that this occurred after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences. 

“Given this new information, does the Prime Minister really think it is tenable for our ambassador to remain in post?”

Sir Keir could only contend that the proper checks had been followed before Mr Mandelson’s appointment, with the air of someone, like Labour leaders before him, wondering whether the New Labour grandee is worth the trouble.

Documents released from ongoing Washington probes into Epstein’s political and business connections have exposed the duration and closeness of Mr Mandelson’s link with the sex trafficker, describing him as “best pal.”

Mr Mandelson threw himself on the mercy of the Sun, telling the Murdoch newspaper that “I regret very, very deeply indeed carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done.”

He said: “I regret very much that I fell for his lies, I fell for and accepted assurances that he had given me about his indictment, his original criminal case in Florida, like very many people, I took at face value what he said.

“With hindsight, with fresh information, many years later, we realised that we had been wrong to believe him. He is a charismatic, criminal liar we now see, and I regret very much indeed.”

Mandelson himself acknowledged that there is more embarrassment to come as further correspondence between Epstein and himself emerges.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy became the first Labour MP to publicly call for Mr Mandelson to resign today.

The left-wing candidate for deputy Labour leader said it would “disturb quite a few people” if he should remain in post.

Infatuation with the super-rich has long been Mandelson’s Achilles heel. He was twice forced to resign as a minister in the Blair government because of scandal.

Given the Washington feeding frenzy around Epstein-related conspiracies, having Britain’s ambassador in Washington so implicated is suboptimal for Sir Keir, although fear of Mr Mandelson’s powerful Blairite allies will limit his freedom to respond.

However, it is certain that if US President Donald Trump, himself involved in the Epstein scandal, intimates that Mr Mandelson’s presence in Washington is an embarrassment to him, Sir Keir will act swiftly.