The government has released the first batch of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, months after the disgraced politician was forced to step down from the role when the full extent of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was revealed.
The dossier, which shows that the prime minister was issued with clear warnings over Mandelson’s links with Epstein, will pile further pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing growing questions over his judgement in appointing the Labour grandee to such a sensitive diplomatic role.
The revelations, published on the government's website as a nearly 150-page PDF, come after MPs ordered the government last month to release tens of thousands of documents relating to the 2024 appointment following questions over how the peer was vetted.
From warnings over the “reputational risk” posed by Lord Mandelson’s appointment, to a £75,000 taxpayer-funded payout, here is everything you need to know from the first release of documents.
Starmer clearly warned over Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Epstein
The documents reveal that the prime minister was warned in no uncertain terms over Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Epstein, including reports of the peer having stayed in the paedophile’s flat while he was in prison.
The prime minister was warned in a due diligence report that there was a “general reputational risk” in appointing Lord Mandelson because of his relationship with Epstein.
In a section titled “Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein”, the December 2024 report said: “After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was business minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government.
“Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in June 2009.”
But chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones told MPs that the due diligence report on Lord Mandelson “did not expose the depth and extent” of his relationship with Epstein.
Mandelson handed £75,000 payout – but asked for more than £500,000
Lord Mandelson was awarded a £75,000 payout – funded by taxpayers – after being dismissed from his role as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the documents reveal.
But the files also show that the peer demanded a full payout of his contract, totalling more than £500,000, in his severance pay talks.
Mr Jones told MPs the disgraced peer’s request for more than £500,000 – more than six times the final amount – was “inappropriate and unacceptable”.
Concerns raised by officials over ‘weirdly rushed’ appointment
Senior officials raised concerns about Lord Mandelson’s appointment, including national security adviser Jonathan Powell, who said he found the appointment process “unusual” and “weirdly rushed”, according to a 12 September call record.
Mr Powell also “raised concerns about the individual and reputation” to Sir Keir’s then-chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, the memo said, but Mr McSweeney is said to have “responded that the issues had been addressed”.
Philip Barton, the then-Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, “also had reservations around the appointment”, the memo said.
PM’s director of communications admitted being ‘personal friend’ of Mandelson
Sir Keir’s then director of communications appears to have defended the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador – before later admitting that the politician was a “personal friend”.
A briefing note to the prime minister from the civil servants looking into the suitability of Mandelson for the role reveals that they had arranged to brief Sir Keir personally about his relationship with Epstein.
But they noted that Matthew Doyle said he was “satisfied” with the Labour grandee’s “responses to questions about contact” with the paedophile.
“We have sought a due diligence…and your chief of staff [Morgan McSweeney] has discussed Peter’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which we will go through with you, but your director of communications [Matthew Doyle] is satisfied with his responses to questions about contact,” the note said.
After Mandelson was sacked in September last year, an investigation into the appointment by the PM’s general counsel noted that in a telephone interview with Lord Doyle, he described the disgraced Labour grandee as “a personal friend”.
Doyle was made a peer after resigning as director of communications and has recently been suspended from the Labour Party over separate questions about his own propriety.
Clinton and Mandelson set up a meeting between Blair and Epstein
Bill Clinton and Peter Mandelson set up a meeting between the then-prime minister Tony Blair and Epstein, the files reveal, with the former US ambassador describing the financier as both “young and vibrant” and “safe”.
In an email to national security adviser Jonathan Powell in 2002, Lord Mandelson said: “Do you remember when Clinton saw TB [Tony Blair] he said he wanted to introduce his travelling friend, Jeffrey Epstein, to TB?”
The email continues: “I think TB would be interested in meeting Jeffrey, who is also a friend of mine, because Jeffrey is an [sic] scientific catalyst/entrepreneur as well as someone who has his finger on the pulse of many worldwide markets and currencies. He is young and vibrant.
“He is safe (whatever that means) and Clinton is now doing a lot of travelling with him.”
Mr Blair went on to meet with Epstein at 5pm on 14 May 2002.
In the wake of the revelations, the former prime minister reissued a statement making clear that this was his one and only time contact with the convicted paedophile – and took place long before his crimes were known.
A spokesperson said: “As far as he can remember, Mr Blair met with him for less than 30 minutes in Downing Street in May 2002, and discussed US and UK politics.
“He never met or engaged with him subsequently. This was, of course, long before his crimes were known of and his subsequent conviction.”
Mandelson sacked after reports showed ‘depth and extent’ of Epstein links
Sir Keir decided to sack Lord Mandelson after emails released by Bloomberg “revealed a depth and extent of a relationship with Epstein which he had not been aware of previously when he made the decision to appoint Mandelson” in 2024, according to a No 10 private office record of a 11 September meeting.
“On this basis, he proposed to ask Mandelson to resign from his post as HMA Washington.”
Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Olly Robbins then “spoke by telephone to Mandelson towards the end of the meeting to inform him of the prime minister’s decision and of the next steps”, the memo said, adding that “the palace had been informed of the decision during the meeting”.
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Timeline of Lord Mandelson’s controversial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
