PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer came under Commons fire today for the disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

In an emergency debate, MPs from all sides slammed the Prime Minister’s judgment in sending Lord Mandelson to Washington despite his known friendship with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Leading Tory backbencher David Davis claimed that Mandelson was “easily dazzled by wealth and fame and … willing to use his public position to pursue those things” and demanded that Labour rule out ever bringing him back in a public role.

And foreign affairs committee chairwoman Emily Thornberry told MPs that the vetting process had ignored “the glaring red flag of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.”

Sir Keir has been further embarrassed by the enforced resignation of his strategy director, Paul Ovenden over the revelation that he had made derogatory and sexual remarks about Diane Abbott in messages sent in 2017.

The revelation comes from a forthcoming book by investigative journalist Paul Holden about Sir Keir’s ascent, which has Downing Street braced for further damaging revelations.