Prime Minister Keir Starmer removed Lord Peter Mandelson from his post as Britain’s ambassador to the United States after the publication of email exchanges that show the Labour peer offering personal support to Jeffrey Epstein and appearing to try to mobilize influential contacts while Epstein faced criminal investigation.
The emails, some published by Bloomberg and others reported by UK outlets, include messages from 2005 to 2008 in which Mandelson wrote to Epstein during periods when Florida authorities and federal investigators were probing allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. In one May 2006 message, after police filed an affidavit seeking charges, Mandelson wrote, "What's cooking? I am in London (public holiday) heading back to BXL [Brussels] in a few hours. I am following you closely and here whenever you need." In July 2008 — the day before Epstein began a jail term following a controversial state plea deal — Mandelson told him, "I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened... You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can."
The cache published by Bloomberg contains exchanges in which Epstein referenced a "Mr Big" and appeared to seek assistance from Mandelson to influence discussions involving Epstein's lawyers, including references to Jay Lefkowitz, a lawyer who represented Epstein. Epstein also used a prison email to suggest Mandelson might speak to Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who was on a trade mission in Europe, arguing the governor "would be instrumental in a pardon, as i pled guilty to a STATE offence." Bloomberg reported it had contacted Crist, who said he had no recollection of being approached and did not know who Mandelson was.
The newly disclosed emails follow photographs and other material that drew fresh scrutiny to Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, which Mandelson has previously described as a mistake he regrets. The images include a 2005 holiday photograph first widely reported in 2019 showing Mandelson and Epstein together on the Caribbean island of St. Barts. In other messages, Epstein offered to pay for Mandelson’s travel and asked about travel arrangements to the island.
Mandelson, a long-serving Labour politician who was EU trade commissioner in the mid-2000s and later served in senior UK government roles, was appointed ambassador to Washington by Prime Minister Starmer earlier this year. In statements after the new disclosures, Mandelson said he "profoundly regrets" ever meeting Epstein and that he had "relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false." He said he did not dispute the contents of the emails.
Downward pressure on Mandelson intensified after additional material appeared in UK media following questions in Parliament. Cabinet Office and other officials said the disclosures had undermined confidence in his position. Starmer had earlier told the House of Commons he had "full confidence" in his envoy, but the publication of further email exchanges prompted the prime minister to remove Mandelson from the post.
The emails document multiple strands of contact during a period when federal and state authorities were negotiating how to proceed against Epstein. At the start of 2008, as the FBI pursued a broader sex-trafficking inquiry that eventually identified numerous potential victims, prosecutors were reported to be in talks with defense lawyers over a plea agreement. The messages do not identify the people Epstein referred to as "Mr Big" or "your guy," and they do not show the outcomes of any interventions Epstein sought.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida after entering a plea agreement that produced an 18-month jail sentence and later drew extensive criticism from prosecutors and lawmakers for its terms. He was later prosecuted on separate federal charges; he died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on those federal allegations.
Several U.S. officials mentioned in the emails said they had no recollection of the contacts described. White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and others were referenced indirectly in some messages; the correspondence does not show any confirmed action by those officials on Epstein’s behalf.
The disclosures are likely to reverberate in Washington, where the ambassador’s role is central to managing diplomatic relations with the United States. The government has not announced a successor. Officials said standard procedures for replacing an ambassador would be followed.
Mandelson’s fall underscores continuing scrutiny over relationships between powerful figures and Epstein, whose connections to politicians, business leaders and other high-profile individuals have been the subject of congressional, journalistic and law-enforcement investigations in the United States and abroad. The newly released messages add to a public record that has prompted questions about judgment and impropriety among people who associated with Epstein, and about how those ties were handled by political leaders.
No evidence in the published emails indicates that Mandelson committed a crime. Mandelson’s defenders noted his public statements of regret and his insistence that he had been misled by Epstein. Starmer’s office declined further comment beyond confirming the ambassadorial change and saying the government would continue its work with Washington on shared priorities.