Downing Street ignored a private warning about Peter Mandelson’s friendship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein before appointing the Labour peer as ambassador to Washington, a memo seen by the Daily Mail shows.
The warning came in a note from senior Labour figure Maurice Glasman to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, in January. Glasman told McSweeney that naming Lord Mandelson would be “the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place,” and said several Republicans he had met had shown him a photograph of Mandelson with Epstein.
Lord Mandelson was appointed ambassador less than three weeks after the warning. Downing Street said the former cabinet minister had undergone “extensive vetting and background checks” and was not considered a security risk, and Prime Minister Starmer told the House of Commons that he had confidence in the ambassador.
The report also said one Whitehall source had told the Mail that senior figures in the Foreign Office advised against the appointment. Opposition MPs and some Labour backbenchers pressed for Lord Mandelson to be removed ahead of a state visit by President Donald Trump next week, and Conservative shadow minister Kemi Badenoch used Prime Minister’s Questions to criticise the decision.
Sir Keir defended the appointment at the Commons session, saying Epstein’s victims “are at the forefront of our minds” and that Lord Mandelson had “repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with Epstein.” He said the ambassador was “playing an important role in the UK‑US relationship.”
The memo from Mr. Glasman, who was reportedly the only Labour figure invited to Mr. Trump’s inauguration on January 20, told Mr. McSweeney that some of those he met considered the Labour government “to be a front organisation for paedophiles and Pakistani rape gangs,” and cited the Mandelson appointment as an example of what they viewed as unnecessary provocation. The phrases appear in the copy of the note seen by the Mail.
Lord Mandelson’s close association with Epstein has been a source of controversy for years. Reports previously quoted Mandelson describing Epstein as “my best pal,” and the peer has faced scrutiny over his past dealings. Mandelson, a former cabinet minister, has twice resigned from Cabinet posts in earlier political scandals.
Separately, The Times reported that a secret memorandum in which Lord Mandelson urged then‑Prime Minister Tony Blair to meet Jeffrey Epstein in 2002 was blocked from public release by the National Archives. The documents and a civil service summary were due to be released this year, but an exemption was applied on the grounds that disclosure could harm UK international relations, particularly with the United States, The Times said.
Downing Street’s statement that routine vetting was followed did not address why the January warning was not acted upon, according to the Mail. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment beyond saying security checks had been completed. The opposition said the episode raised questions about judgment and the potential political fallout of appointing a high‑profile diplomat with a widely reported association to a convicted sex offender.
The episode comes as the government prepares for a major diplomatic event with the United States. Relations with Washington and the optics of senior UK appointments have drawn heightened attention from both parties and the public amid renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s network and those who associated with him. The Mail report and the withholding of the archival memo highlight continuing sensitivities within Westminster about historical contacts and their implications for current diplomacy.
Labour sources said the party expects the government to stand by statements that appropriate procedures were followed. Critics said the disclosure of Glasman’s memo underlines how private cautions from senior figures were not reflected in the final decision to send Lord Mandelson to Washington.
No independent confirmation of all details in the Mail’s account was available at publication, and requests for comment from Lord Mandelson were not immediately returned.