By Kate Nicholson

Copyright huffingtonpost

Minister Peter Kyle was put on the spot this morning over how he praised Peter Mandelson last week – even though Mandelson had just been sacked as US ambassador over his Jeffrey Epstein ties.

Keir Starmer fired his US ambassador more than a week ago, after it emerged that Mandelson had continued to support Epstein via email, even as he was facing child underage sex charges in 2008.

Mandelson’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender was already public knowledge when he was appointed less than a year ago.

And, speaking to Sky News last weekend – three days after Mandelson was fired – Kyle insisted that No.10 initially thought hiring the controversial figure as US ambassador was still worth the risk.

He said: “We knew that there were risks involved, but his talent led us to believe at the time that the risk was worth it.”

Kyle said while they “knew the relationship continued” after Epstein’s conviction, “the decision was taken in the national interest to try and use the specific talents that he had, which were singular and outstanding.”

Those remarks caused significant backlash with the public, especially as he said them after the depth of Mandelson’s links with Epstein post-arrest were revealed.

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday, presenter Rob Rinder asked Kyle if he still stood by that assessment.

Kyle just insisted that new evidence had come to light which was not available at the time of Mandelson’s hiring.

“That just doesn’t answer the question,” Rinder hit back. “Let me ask you in this way.”

He said it was well-known that Mandelson had previously stayed in the home of a convicted sex trafficker at the time of his appointment, adding: “At that point, anyone doing analysis, doing any kind of investigating [or vetting], would have said ‘Where are your emails?’”

Kyle said there was an independent vetting system in place that was operating in its usual way – before deflecting to talk about the impact of Donald Trump’s state visit.

But co-presenter Kate Garraway brought the conversation back to Mandelson, pointing out that Kyle has been criticised because he “continued to defend” him post-sacking.

“One minister told us at Good Morning Britain that you seem to be ‘tone-deaf’,” she added. “And other MPs have said that too. Is it going to have an impact on you?”

The cabinet minister replied: “Let me be really clear: I do not defend any of the actions that Peter Mandelson took in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, absolutely not.

“What I am trying to do is show that we have been focused on delivering for people. As soon as new evidence came to light, why on earth would I ever defend what had come to light in those emails?”

“But it had?” Garraway pointed out. “It had come to light.”

Kyle stuttered before insisting: “The context of those emails was not known at the time of appointment.”

“No, but your defence was!” Garraway said.

Rinder cut in: “To close it off, the statement you made – that his ‘singular talents’ were worth the risk – you no longer think that?”

“What I said at the time of this coming out was explaining why he was appointed in the first place,” Kyle insisted.

“No one is appointed to being ambassador of a great country on behalf of our country, unless they have talents.”

He added that Mandelson should have been recalled as soon as new information came to light.