Keir Starmer has dismissed Lord Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington after newly leaked emails exposed the extent of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Foreign Office announced on Thursday morning that “in light of the additional information” the Prime Minister had withdrawn Lord Mandelson from the role.
The move followed the release of private correspondence in which Lord Mandelson urged Epstein to seek early release after his 2008 conviction for child prostitution.
“Your friends stay with you and love you,” Lord Mandelson wrote to the disgraced financier after his arrest in Florida.
The disclosures triggered demands from Labour MPs for his immediate removal, piling pressure on Sir Keir just a week after Angela Rayner, his deputy prime minister, stood down in a separate crisis.
Foreign Office statement
In a statement, officials confirmed the ambassador’s dismissal:
“In light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the Prime Minister has asked the Foreign Secretary to withdraw him as Ambassador.
“The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment. In particular Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.
“In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
The wording made clear this was a sacking rather than a resignation, implying Lord Mandelson resisted pressure to step aside.
Questions for Starmer
The revelations have reignited questions about the Prime Minister’s judgment in appointing the Labour peer to the role just seven months ago.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: “Mandelson might have gone but, just as with Angela Rayner, Starmer dithered when he needed to be decisive.
“Time and again he puts party above country. He has no backbone and no convictions. There are now serious questions over what Starmer knew and when. We deserve to know.”
Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, wrote on X: “Since the first rumours of his appointment, my committee has repeatedly asked – publicly and privately – to question Peter Mandelson.
“It is right that he has now been sacked. The FCDO should not have stopped us from asking questions. The government should welcome such scrutiny.”
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said Sir Keir “needs to come before Parliament and explain why Lord Mandelson was appointed in the first place, given everything the Government knew then”.
Ties to Epstein
Lord Mandelson’s closeness to Epstein has been a source of controversy for years, but this week’s leaks intensified scrutiny.
Emails obtained by Bloomberg revealed him offering personal support after Epstein’s arrest. “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” he wrote.
“I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.
“Everything can be turned into an opportunity … you will come through it and be stronger for it.”
Other messages, revealed earlier in the week, showed Lord Mandelson referring to Epstein as “my best pal” in a birthday book created in 2003. Photographs published alongside the notes included one of the Labour peer in a dressing gown with Epstein.
Further questions were raised after it emerged Epstein had brokered a £1bn deal involving a taxpayer-owned banking business while Lord Mandelson was business secretary, just months after the American financier’s release from prison.
Political fallout
The dismissal leaves Starmer searching for a replacement to maintain his relationship with Donald Trump, who is due to arrive in the UK next week for his second state visit.
Lord Mandelson had been regarded as a useful intermediary with Washington and had advised on defence and trade negotiations.
Starmer’s spokesman had only days earlier defended the peer, pointing to his “achievements strengthening the trade relationship with the US, the UK-US defence deal, and work to end Putin’s war”.
The scandal marks the third time Labour’s Lord Mandelson has been forced from government. He resigned in 1998 over an undeclared loan, and again in 2001 after controversy surrounding a businessman’s passport application, though an inquiry later cleared him of wrong doing.
Epstein died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Main Image: Peter Mandelson speaking at the Policy Network Politics of Climate Change event. Flickr: Peter Mandelson. Credit: Policy Network. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
