LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was warned that Peter Mandelson’s friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein exposed the government to “reputational risk,” but he still appointed him as ambassador to the United States, documents released Wednesday show.
Mr. Starmer fired Mr. Mandelson after nine months in the job when new details of the relationship with Epstein emerged, and he now faces a political storm over the appointment. The newly published files show the prime minister ignored red flags raised by his staff when he appointed the savvy but controversial Mr. Mandelson to the U.K.’s most important diplomatic post.
Mr. Mandelson was briefly arrested last month by police investigating allegations he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago.
Two-decade friendship with Epstein
Concerns were raised in a document sent to Mr. Starmer in December 2024 when he was considering appointing Mr. Mandelson, an elder statesman of the governing Labor Party, to a diplomatic post seen as vital to establishing relations with President Trump’s administration.
A “due diligence report” prepared by senior civil servants summarized a relationship between Mr. Mandelson and Mr. Epstein that ran from at least 2002 — the year Mr. Mandelson “facilitated” a meeting between Epstein and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair — to 2019, the year of Epstein’s death.
The document notes that “Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in June 2009” for sexual offenses involving a minor and cites a 2019 report commissioned by JPMorgan that said Epstein had a “particularly close relationship” with the then-Prince Andrew and with Mr. Mandelson.
It also spelled out unrelated reputational issues over Mr. Mandelson’s work in a previous Labor government — when he twice had to resign over financial matters — and his work at Global Counsel, a lobbying firm he co-founded.
Despite the red flags in the documents, Cabinet minister Darren Jones said the due diligence “did not expose the depth and extent” of Mr. Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein. He said Mr. Mandelson had lied to Mr. Starmer about the friendship.
“Peter Mandelson should never have been afforded the privilege of representing this country,” Mr. Jones told lawmakers in the House of Commons. “I reiterate for the House that the prime minister deeply regrets taking him at his word. It was a mistake to do so.”
Political fallout
Mr. Starmer fired Mr. Mandelson in September after an earlier release of documents showed he had maintained contact with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction.
Further details about Mr. Mandelson’s ties with Epstein, revealed in a huge trove of files published by the U.S. Department of Justice in January, raised new questions about Mr. Starmer’s judgment, driving opponents and even some members of the governing Labor Party to call for the prime minister’s resignation.
Mr. Starmer survived the immediate danger, but his position remains fragile, even though he never met Epstein and is not implicated in his crimes.
The 147 pages of documents published Wednesday were released after lawmakers forced Mr. Starmer’s government to disclose thousands of files about the decision to name Mr. Mandelson to the key diplomatic post at the start of Mr. Trump’s second term.
The government says the files will show Mr. Mandelson misled officials.
The documents are being published in batches after review by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Police have asked the government not to release files that could compromise their criminal investigation into Mr. Mandelson.
The documents published Wednesday note that Mr. Mandelson was asked questions about his relationship with Epstein and say the prime minister’s communications director was “satisfied with his responses.”
The responses themselves have not been published because of the police investigation.
The files raise more questions for Mr. Starmer. After Mr. Mandelson was fired, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell told the prime minister’s lawyer that he had raised concerns about “the individual and reputation” and found the appointment process “weirdly rushed,” the documents show.
Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Mr. Starmer had made a “catastrophic failure of judgment.”
Conservative lawmaker Alex Burghart said that while Mr. Mandelson might have lied to the prime minister, “he wasn’t lied to by this due diligence document.”
“The prime minister knew all he needed to know. It was on him. It’s on him now. He let his party down. He let his country down. I very much doubt that either will trust him again.”
The Epstein files released in January suggest that Mr. Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government’s business secretary after the 2008 financial crisis. That includes an internal government report discussing ways the U.K. could raise money, including by selling off government assets.
Mandelson also appears to have told Epstein he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses.
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