Lord Peter Mandelson was sacked as UK ambassador to the US in September 2025 after leaked emails showed the peer had sent supportive messages to Jeffrey Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences
Sir Keir Starmer will preside over a Cabinet meeting today after messages released in connection with Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US exposed deep divisions within Labour.
Sir Keir dismissed Lord Mandelson in September 2025 amid mounting calls for his removal following leaked emails which revealed the peer had sent supportive messages even as Jeffrey Epstein faced imprisonment for sex offences.
MPs voted earlier this year to compel the release of documents relating to his period as ambassador.
The more than 1,000 pages of documents in the second batch released on Monday included records of WhatsApp exchanges between Lord Mandelson and Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden that laid bare the latter’s exasperation with his colleagues.
In May 2025, in the aftermath of local election losses and the Runcorn by-election defeat, Mr McFadden said: “Lot of manoeuvring here this week. Angela (Rayner), Gordon (Brown). Doesn’t feel good for Keir.”
He also complained that Labour MPs were “asking the wrong questions”.
“Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’,” he said.
Mr McFadden, who held the position of senior minister in the Cabinet Office at the time, also acknowledged that Sir Keir’s authority risked being undermined by a Labour rebellion over welfare reforms. In June, shortly before the Government buckled under pressure and handed a string of concessions to rebel MPs, he said: “I think it’s very bad. Defeat, pull Bill or gut it all destroys his authority.”
Mr McFadden took up the role of Work and Pensions Secretary, with responsibility for the welfare system, in September 2025.
Lord Mandelson was scathing about Sir Keir’s operation in his messages, claiming the Prime Minister “lacks verve” and that Chancellor Rachel Reeves was unable to set out where economic growth would come from.
In a message to Mr McFadden in July 2025, he said: “I went into No10 after I saw you. It is beleaguered and bereft. It requires complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere.”
During the same month, he told pensions minister Torsten Bell that the Government “doesn’t do policy, generally speaking, well enough”. Mr Bell responded: “That is definitely true – everyone seems to think it’s someone else’s job to get the policy right… Which is very odd.”
Lord Mandelson fired back: “As the saying goes, rubbish in rubbish out…”
MPs will get their chance to debate the second batch of files on Wednesday.
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