UK PM Keir Starmer under pressure to quit over US ambassador security scandal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure to resign on Friday despite sacking a senior official following news that Britain’s former ‌ambassador to the US had failed security vetting but was still handed the job.Starmer, who won the largest majority in modern history for Labour at a national election in 2024, faces fresh questions both over his judgment and his ability to govern, just three weeks before his party is expected to be punished in local elections in England, and regional votes in Scotland and Wales.Following the resignation of Labour veteran Peter Mandelson as US ​ambassador over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Starmer had managed to win a brief reprieve from his critics after limiting Britain’s role in ​President Trump’s and Israel’s war in Iran.However, on Thursday it emerged that Mandelson had failed the security vetting conducted before his ⁠appointment as envoy, a fact that Starmer’s team said the prime minister had been unaware of.Starmer’s political foes have accused him of misleading parliament and have demanded his ​resignation.Senior minister Darren Jones said on Friday Starmer was furious over not having been told about Mandelson’s failure to pass the security vetting.“I don’t think it ​brings the prime minister’s future into question,” Jones told LBC radio, acknowledging that the system which had meant Foreign Office officials failed to communicate the vetting failure to ministers had “undermined the prime minister and the government.”Downing Street moved swiftly late on Thursday to try to quash the scandal, sacking the Foreign Office’s top official, Olly Robbins.Yet his team’s argument that Starmer did not know until this week key information surrounding ​an appointment he had promoted in 2024 as a stroke of genius has sparked doubts over how his operation works and whether the prime minister has a grip.One Labour ​lawmaker, speaking on condition of an...