Keir Starmer U-turns over Mandelson files after Labour MPs rebel
The Prime Minister agreed to release the files to a House of Commons committee after an Angela Rayner-led backlash from his own MPs.
Sir Keir Starmer was forced into a U-turn over documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador after Labour MPs threatened to rebel.
The Prime Minister agreed to release the files to a House of Commons committee after an Angela Rayner-led backlash from his own MPs.
Meanwhile, First Minister John Swinney said he has ordered an investigation into the Scottish government’s dealings with Lord Mandelson.
Sir Keir had initially wanted the top civil servant Sir Chris Wormald to decide what documents could not be released on national security grounds or because they could prejudice international relations.
But under pressure from Labour MPs - and potentially facing a rebellion in a vote - he accepted the decision could be made by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) instead.
It came after the Prime Minister announced that he knew about Lord Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him ambassador to the US, but claimed the peer “lied repeatedly” about the extent of the relationship.
Lord Mandelson was sacked from his Washington role in September last year over his links with Epstein, who died in 2019.
His continued association with Epstein following a 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor had been widely reported before his return to the political frontline, when he was named as ambassador in 2024.
The Tories had tabled a motion in the House of Commons to force the government to release “all papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment”.
The government then tabled its own amendment which required some “papers prejudicial to UK national security or international relations” to be withheld.
But former deputy prime minister Ms Rayner was among several Labour MPs who put pressure on the Prime Minister to give the Intelligence Committee the final say.
During the debate on the Tory motion, Ms Rayner said: “Given the public disgust and the sickening behaviour of Peter Mandelson and the importance of transparency, in 2022 I proposed a humble address seeking information about PPE which the [Conservative] party resisted. Should we not have the ISC have the same role in keeping public confidence in the process?”
Soon afterwards Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle announced that the government had agreed to do so.
At Prime Minister’s Questions earlier in the day, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch repeatedly asked Sir Keir if he knew Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein had continued after the conviction.
She said: “Can the Prime Minister tell us did the official security vetting he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?”
Sir Keir replied: “Yes it did. As a result, various questions were put to him.”
The Prime Minister told MPs: “What was not known was the depth, the sheer depth and the extent of the relationship.
“He lied about that to everyone for years, and new information was published in September showing the relationship was materially different from what we’d been led to believe.
“When the new information came to light, I sacked him.”
The Tories claimed credit for the climbdown.
A Conservative spokesman said: “Kemi forced Starmer to admit he’d known Mandelson was still hanging out with Epstein after the child sex conviction, and No 10 went ahead and appointed Mandelson anyway.
“You could feel in the Commons that was the moment Labour MPs stopped backing the Prime Minister. The government have now had to cave to Kemi’s demand for all documents to go to the ISC. Starmer is no longer in control, Kemi is calling the shots.”
Documents released as part of the US Department of Justice’s Epstein Files appear to show Lord Mandelson passing potentially market-sensitive information to his friend in 2009, while he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
A criminal investigation is due to be launched into the allegations.
The Cabinet Office has passed material to the police after an initial review of documents released as part of the so-called Epstein files found they contained “likely market-sensitive information” and official handling safeguards had been “compromised”.
Mr Brown passed similar material to police on Tuesday, just two hours after it was announced that Lord Mandelson was stepping down from the House of Lords.
Sir Keir said: “Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party.
“He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador, I regret appointing him.
“If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”
Lord Mandelson has quit the House of Lords, but Sir Keir said legislation was being drafted to stop him from continuing to use his title.
And he said he had agreed with the King that Lord Mandelson should no longer be a privy counsellor – which allows him to be described as “right honourable” – because he had “brought the reputation of the Privy Council into disrepute”.
Epstein was sent details of internal discussions from the heart of the UK government after the global financial crisis.
Lord Mandelson appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers’ bonuses in 2009, and to confirm an imminent EU bailout package to save the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.
In June 2009 he appears to have passed on what he called an “interesting note that’s gone to the PM”, an assessment by Mr Brown’s adviser Nick Butler of potential policy measures including an “asset sales plan”.
The financier was also sent an analysis of business lending in August 2009 drawn up by minister Baroness Vadera.
The sender of the message to Epstein has been redacted, but Lord Mandelson was involved in the government email thread.
In an interview conducted before the latest allegations came to light, Lord Mandelson admitted to a “lapse in judgment” over Epstein’s funding of an osteopathy course for the peer’s husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009, at the time the government was dealing with the global financial crisis.
The files contain reference to a £10,000 transfer from Epstein.
“In retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment for Reinaldo to accept this offer. At the time it was not a consequential decision,” he said.
Lord Mandelson rejected the suggestion this left him open to bribery claims, with Epstein lobbying him to change banker bonus rules.
The peer insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of receiving payments totalling 75,000 US dollars (around £55,000) from Epstein between 2003 and 2004 as bank details in the files released by the US Department of Justice indicated.
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