It comes after the government agreed to MPs’ demands last month to release thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted
Keir Starmer has published the first wave of files relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
It comes after the government agreed to MPs’ demands last month to release thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The first tranche of documents were released shortly after Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday and include a series of shocking details about the vetting process. Here are the key bombshells from the first document.
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Peter Mandelson handed severance payment of around £75,000
Lord Peter Mandelson was handed a severance payment of about £75,000 when he was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington. The Foreign Office paid him £75,000 in total: £40,330 has he was not given three months’ notice, plus a £34,670 termination payment.
Disgraced peer asked for half a million of taxpayers money
Peter Mandelson had requested a payout of more than £500,000, the full salary he’d have earned for a four-year tenure. The document states: “Negotiations began with a request by the individual to pay out the remainder of the 4- year salary costs of the fixed term appointment. This would have amounted to £547,201.”
He suggested Keir Starmer use Nigel Farage for better relations with Donald Trump
One of the concerns raised in vetting was his suggestion of using Nigel Farage to better UK connections with the Trump administration. The document says: “Mandelson is quoted saying of Farage, contrary to UKG policy: ‘You can’t ignore him, he’s an elected member of parliament. He’s a public figure. He’s a bridgehead both to President Trump and Elon Musk and others…National Interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways'”.
PM raised ‘serious discomfort’ of Labour MPs when sacking Mandelson
Keir Starmer acknowledged the “serious discomfort” among Labour MPs over Peter Mandelson’s ties to Epstein during a key meeting where it was decided the peer would be sacked as Ambassador to Washington. It was attended by the Deputy PM David Lammy, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds, and officials from both the Foreign Office and No10.
One email released in the documents contains a note of the PM’s meeting on Lord Mandelson’s position on September 11 – the day he was eventually dismissed from the post.
The note said: “He [the PM] referenced the his concern at the judgements and views expressed in the cache of emails released by Bloomberg, that the answers Mandelson provided to FCDO PUS [Permanent Under-Secretary] Olly Robbins regarding the emails did not give him confidence that there were not further revelations to come and the serious discomfort in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party].”
It added: “The emails revealed a depth and extent of a relationship with Epstein which he had not been aware of previously when he made the decision to appoint Mandelson. On this basis, he proposed to ask Mandelson to resign from his post as HMA Washington.”
UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell found Mandelson appointment ‘weirdly rushed’
A record of a call with officials and the UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, shows he expressed concerns about the appointment of Lord Mandelson. The note said: “Jonathan Powell [JP] found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson [LM] weirdly rushed…”
It added: “JP doesn’t recall any specific meetings on this that he was involved in, though there were a few conversations.” Crucially, it adds Mr Powell “raised concerns about the individual and reputation” to the PM’s former chief-of-staff. A record of a call with the former director of communications in Downing Street, Matthew Doyle, also claims Mr Powell was “particularly cautious about the appointment”.
Government warned of ‘reputational risks’ from Epstein links
A due diligence review from the propriety and ethics team has an extensive section on the “reputational risks” of appointing Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US given his links with Epstein.It says: “A 2019 report commissioned by JPMorgan found that Epstein appeared to ‘maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the Duke of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government’. The report cited Epstein’s personal records which showed contact beginning in 2002 and continuing throughout the 2000s.“After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was Business Minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government. Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s House while he was in jail in June 2009. In 2014 Mandelson also agreed to be a “founding citizen” of an ocean conservation group founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, and funded by Epstein.”It also cites a Telegraph article from January 2024 that explores the “particularly close friendship” between the pair. The review also notes that the Cabinet Office holds official records “that are likely to be released by the National Archives early next year, which relate to a Tony Blair meeting with Epstein that was facilitated by Mandelson”.