Starmer braces for more Mandelson bombshells
Key Points
- The UK government is set to release hundreds of documents on Monday relating to Peter Mandelson, the former Ambassador to the US sacked over his Epstein ties.
- A March release showed vetting officials advised against Mandelson's security clearance, but the Foreign Office overruled them.
- Keir Starmer says he was lied to about the Epstein links and was never told about the clearance recommendation.
- The scandal has already led to the firing of top Foreign Office official Olly Robbins and fed leadership challenge speculation around Andy Burnham.
- Mandelson is under criminal investigation for alleged misconduct in public office and has denied wrongdoing.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces fresh political damage on Monday (1 June) as the government prepares to release hundreds of documents tied to Peter Mandelson, the former Ambassador to the United States.
Mandelson was sacked last year over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson lost the Washington post after leaked emails exposed the depth of his relationship with Epstein, setting off a political crisis that has dogged Starmer ever since.
A preliminary release of documents in March, demanded by opposition lawmakers, showed that British vetting officials had advised against granting Mandelson top-level security clearances before his appointment as the country’s most senior envoy to the United States. The Foreign Office overruled that recommendation and pushed the appointment through.
Starmer has said Mandelson lied to him about the extent of his ties to Epstein. He has also said he was never told about the security clearance recommendation that vetting officials made. Those two claims now sit at the centre of a widening row over who knew what, and when, inside the British government.
The New York Times reports that the batch due for publication on Monday is expected to cover Mandelson’s actual time in Washington, including emails and messages he exchanged with senior members of the British government.
He took up the diplomatic post in February 2025 and was fired in September, so the documents span the full arc of his short tenure.
Opposition lawmakers will scrutinise the correspondence for any sign that ministers or officials had clearer warnings than they have so far admitted.
The fallout has already cost senior figures their jobs and shaken Starmer’s grip on power. The furore over the appointment led to the firing of Olly Robbins, the former top official at the Foreign Office, in April. It also helped destabilise Starmer’s position as both Prime Minister and leader of the governing Labour Party.
His standing weakened further last month. Labour suffered poor local election results, and senior Cabinet Minister Wes Streeting resigned, feeding speculation that Starmer could face a leadership challenge later this year.
One of the main contenders, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester, is contesting a special election to return to Parliament. A win would make Burnham eligible to stand in any future Labour leadership contest, sharpening the threat to the Prime Minister.
Mandelson himself is under criminal investigation over allegations of misconduct in public office, following claims that he passed confidential government information to Epstein while serving in a previous Labour government in 2009 and 2010.
