As if Sir Keir Starmer‘s discomfiture over the Epstein Files wasn’t acute enough, up pops another name to make him squirm.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Waheed Alli – the Prime Minister’s biggest personal donor – is the latest senior Labour figure to appear in the tranche of Epstein-related documents released by the US Department of Justice.
It was Lord Alli, worth a reputed £200million, who was at the centre of the freebies row that engulfed Labour in 2024 when it emerged he gave Sir Keir more than £30,000 of designer suits and spectacles.
Emails show Lord Alli appeared on a list of guests due to attend a dinner hosted by Epstein at New York’s Monkey Bar restaurant in February 2010.
Both men were also listed as guests at a large society dinner in August 2010 – although it’s not known whether Lord Alli attended either dinner.
Lord Alli’s name also appears alongside that of Peter Mandelson in an email Epstein wrote to himself entitled ‘contacts’.
In another email from May 2012, Epstein mentions to a friend that Mandelson and Lord Alli were staying at Shelter Island in the Hamptons, the exclusive summer playground for America’s elite.
Epstein, in an exchange with businesswoman Jennie Enterprise, containing multiple grammatical and spelling errors, asks: ‘are you on shelter island.’
Ms Enterprise: ‘Yes… U close?’ He then emails back: ‘no my fined peter mandel son , former dep prime minister engalnd’ gay is with another black gay , walid , currently on shelter island.’
Freebiegate donor Lord Alli (right) has been named in the Epstein Files alongside the disgraced former US Ambassador Peter Mandelson (left)
In an email from May 2012, Epstein mentions to a friend that Mandelson and Lord Alli were staying at Shelter Island in the Hamptons
Shelter Island in New York, the exclusive summer playground for America’s elite
‘Walid’ is understood to be a reference to Lord Alli who was the first openly gay member of the House of Lords when he was ennobled in 1998 by Tony Blair.
He bought a substantial Shelter Island property in 2016 before selling it and buying another in 2020, which is now on sale for £13 million.
Last night Lord Alli’s lawyer said: ‘Lord Alli has never knowingly met or communicated with Jeffrey Epstein.’
Lord Alli has been at the heart of Labour since Mandelson masterminded the party’s 1997 election landslide while staying at his Kent mansion house.
However, being ‘close friends’ with Mandelson meant some in the Labour Party viewed him as an ‘eccentric hybrid of Rasputin and Willy Wonka, writing cheques to secure his way into the company of political superstars with whom he ingratiated himself with lavish hospitality’.
Despite these suspicions, his influence in the Labour party has not waned. He chaired Labour’s fundraising before the last election and is a big donor in his own right, having given £500,000 to the party since 2020.
He has also donated to Sir Keir’s wife and other ministers, with Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves among those who have accepted clothes and gifts.
Lord Alli also lent Ms Rayner and her boyfriend his Manhattan apartment for a holiday and bankrolled a 40th birthday party for Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary.
Lord Alli (pictured) chaired Labour’s fundraising before the last election and is a big donor in his own right, having given £500,000 to the party since 2020
Sir Keir previously defended using a house owned by Lord Alli for a video urging people to work from home during the Covid pandemic
The freebies row became increasingly personal for Sir Keir, who defended borrowing an £18 million penthouse from Lord Alli during the election, saying he wanted his son to have a place to study for his GCSEs.
Under pressure, No 10 eventually announced that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet would stop accepting free clothes.
‘We came into office promising to be different from the Tories,’ one Labour MP said at the time. ‘The public expected us to be squeaky clean. Now they think we’re all the same.’
Lord Alli’s role came under scrutiny when it emerged he had been given a pass to No 10 and had organised a post-election reception for those who helped bankroll Labour’s campaign.