Prime Minister Keir Starmer was aware that government officials were investigating newly recovered emails relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before he publicly expressed “full confidence” in the peer at Prime Minister’s Questions, No 10 said on Monday. Downing Street said the prime minister did not see the content of those emails before he backed Mandelson, and later sacked him after the messages were published.
Officials said the Foreign Office had asked Lord Mandelson to respond after Bloomberg reported it had found the emails in a long-disused account. The messages, and other material released by US sources, include passages in which Mandelson appears to urge Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before his 2008 sentence and to call him “my best pal” in a handwritten note included in a scrapbook. No 10 said the prime minister knew of Mandelson’s association with Epstein, including that Mandelson had stayed at Epstein’s house after Epstein’s 2008 imprisonment, but said the "nature and extent" of the relationship differed from what ministers believed when Mandelson was appointed ambassador to the United States in December.
Downing Street said it was told that Mandelson had warned of more “very embarrassing” revelations about his friendship with Epstein and that the Foreign Office was examining fresh emails. Sir Keir told Channel 4 News he received Mandelson’s answers to the Foreign Office’s questions late on Wednesday and found them unsatisfactory. The Bloomberg publication of the emails later that night prompted the prime minister to dismiss Mandelson on the following day.
Asked about his judgment for appointing Mandelson, Sir Keir said he would not have made the appointment had he known the full truth. "I knew of his association with Epstein," he said, but added that he felt "let down" and that, "in retrospect it would have been better" to have reviewed the email contents personally before publicly defending Mandelson at PMQs.
Conservative critics said the government’s explanations were inadequate and demanded further disclosure. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister should "come clean" about precisely what he knew and when. Sir David Davis, who secured an emergency Commons debate on the matter for Tuesday, accused Labour of "obfuscation and delay, by recrimination and cover up." Labour figures said the episode raised questions about judgment; Labour MP Andy McDonald said the unfolding events had "shaken people's trust and confidence."
Lord Mandelson had told media last week that more embarrassing details about his friendship with Epstein could emerge and later said he wished he had never met the financier. The fresh emails recovered by Bloomberg and other material released by US sources were central to the police and parliamentary scrutiny that followed. One passage reportedly shows Mandelson expressing affection for Epstein and urging him to contest his prosecution outcomes; another shows Mandelson advising Epstein on seeking early release prior to a prison sentence for soliciting a minor in 2008.
The controversy comes amid other challenges to the government’s intended "Phase Two" reset. In early September the prime minister reshuffled his No. 10 team and launched a strategy to move on from earlier turbulence. That process was interrupted by a series of events, including a ministerial resignation over tax matters and the publication of the Epstein-related material on Sept. 9. Mandelson’s sacking on Sept. 11 followed the Bloomberg disclosures and a period in which No 10 said it was awaiting a fuller explanation from the ambassador.
Downing Street maintained that the prime minister did not see the substance of the emails before defending Mandelson in the Commons, and pointed to the timeline of when officials were first alerted and when Mandelson provided responses. Sir Keir has said he will not resign over the matter, even as the opposition presses for greater clarity. The House of Commons is scheduled to debate the issue following a request granted by Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
The episode adds to broader scrutiny of ties between public figures and Epstein, whose network of associates has produced public and media inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic. The release of the scrapbook and related documents by US sources has triggered renewed examination of contacts and correspondence involving British and international figures. Downing Street said it will co-operate with any relevant inquiries and that the government takes the allegations seriously.
As the Commons prepares for an emergency debate, ministers and opposition MPs will press for a fuller account of who knew what, and when, about the material that led to Lord Mandelson’s dismissal. Sir Keir faces continued political pressure over the appointment and over his handling of the fallout as the government seeks to steady its domestic agenda.