In September last year, when damning emails were set to be released exposing the depth of Peter Mandelon’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, Keir Starmer stood up in parliament and assured MPs he had confidence in the US ambassador and the “full due process” involved in his appointment.
Then, in surely one of the quickest U-turns of Starmer’s tumultuous premiership, Mandelson was fired the next day. He was phoned and informed of the decision during a crisis meeting chaired by the prime minister himself.
Starmer has since complained that Mandelson “lied repeatedly” about the extent of his contact with the financier, but files released on Wednesday expose serious failures in the Downing Street operation, and raise new questions about Starmer’s judgment.
One of the most damning extracts reveals that Downing Street only had “three specific questions” for Mandelson over his links to a convicted paedophile before his appointment as Britain’s ambassador in the US.
Those questions – and Mandelson’s responses – are not included in the files because of an ongoing police investigation.
It has been reported that Mandelson considers he answered questions accurately about his relationship, and considers he has not acted criminally or for personal gain.
But many MPs consider the “probity report” provided to Starmer in December 2024, before Mandelson’s appointment, contained more than enough information to bar him from the job. Mandelson started the posting two months later, in February 2025, but was sacked seven months later.
The documents shred Starmer’s claims, made in parliament, of a thorough appointment process, with Mandelson given one of the most prestigious foreign postings despite officials flagging his links to a convicted paedophile. Starmer, it is now clear, was even warned that it had been reported that Mandelson had stayed in Epstein’s New York mansion in June 2009 when the financier was in jail for sexual offences involving children.
The files reveal how two key aides who were close to Mandelson, chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and director of communications Matthew Doyle, helped drive through the appointment despite a warning of “general reputational risk”.
McSweeney for years turned to Mandelson for political and strategic advice. Doyle, a former aide to Tony Blair, is described in the files as a “personal friend” of Mandelson. Both men have since resigned.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was “shameful” that a close friend of Epstein had been appointed Britain’s ambassador to the UK. “It’s a stain on our nation that we’re even having to go through this,” he said.
How Mandelson was sacked
At a meeting chaired by Starmer on 11 September 2025, attended by foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, deputy prime minister David Lammy and the chief whip Jonathan Reynolds, the decision was made to sack Mandelson.
While Starmer had defended Mandelson the previous day at prime minister’s questions, he told the meeting a new cache of emails released by Bloomberg revealed the “depth and extent” of the relationship between the two men. These emails showed that as Epstein faced jail in 2008, Mandelson told him “your friends stay with you and love you”.
Mandelson was phoned by Oliver Robbins, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) during the meeting to relay Starmer’s decision and Buckingham Palace was also informed.
On 12 September, the day after Mandelson was fired, Mike Ostheimer, a government lawyer who acts as general counsel to the prime minister, started unpicking the checks that were made before the US ambassador appointment.
The two-page report produced by the propriety and ethics team at the Cabinet Office in early December 2024 flagged the risks of appointing Mandelson and his ongoing contact with Epstein after he was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008. “Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in 2009,” stated the report.
Ostheimer quickly established how McSweeney and Doyle were closely involved in the appointment. A note to Starmer said Doyle was “satisfied” with Mandelson’s responses to questions about contact with Epstein. The note said McSweeney had also discussed Mandelson’s relationship with the financier.
Ostheimer discovered there were significant reservations about the appointment. He noted that Jonathan Powell, a former senior aide to Tony Blair and Starmer’s national security adviser, found the appointment process “weirdly rushed”. Powell told Ostheimer that Philip Barton, who was permanent under-secretary at the FCDO at the time of the appointment, also had “reservations”.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has said her department was not asked to contribute to the report by the propriety and ethics team and no issues were raised with the department as a result of the process.
After he was fired, Mandelson requested a payout from the government of nearly £550,000. A final severance payment was agreed £75,000 of which Mandelson has now been urged by MPs to pay back or give to charity.
While 147 pages of documents were released on Wednesday, some information was redacted or withheld, including a register of interests form which would have been completed by Mandelson. Tens of thousands of documents concerning Mandelson’s appointment are believed to have been gathered by officials, with Downing Street braced for further revelations to come.
Photograph by Kin Cheung / AP
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