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Calls For Criminal Probe Into Lord Mandelson Grow After ‘Shocking’ Leaks To Epstein

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Calls for a police probe into Peter Mandelson have grown amid suggestions the peer leaked sensitive government information to dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) released a vast trove of documents related to Epstein’s network over the weekend, including his email exchanges with Mandelson.

Their conversations suggested that Mandelson passed Epstein at least one confidential memo when he was the business secretary back in 2009, following the financial crash.

He appeared to forward an economic briefing for then-prime minister Gordon Brown to Epstein, who pleaded guilt to procuring an underage child for prostitution the previous year.

Mandelson added the caption: “Interesting note that’s gone to the PM.”

Their conversations suggest Mandelson gave Epstein advance notice of a €500bn bailout from the EU to save the Euro, too.

These emails have sparked fears about whether Mandelson therefore committed misconduct in a public office, which can lead to a maximum sentence of life behind bars.

Both Reform and the SNP have sent separate referrals to the Metropolitan Police to investigate Mandelson.

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “We have today reported Peter Mandelson to the police for misconduct in public office.

“It’s abundantly clear that Peter Mandelson has abused his position in office. It’s now time the police do their job and properly investigate these shocking new revelations.”

SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said “the disgraceful revelations” about Mandelson’s messages to Epstein “are shocking and must be fully investigated by the UK government and all appropriate authorities.”

“There is no question that Lord Mandelson’s actions were shameful and unethical – the only question is the extent to which his actions breached the ministerial code and the law,” he said. “I have, therefore, reported Peter Mandelson to the Metropolitan Police.”

Flynn said: “It is essential these matters are fully investigated to ensure maximum transparency and justice.”

Similarly, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey called for a criminal probe.

He said: “The Epstein files suggest Peter Mandelson leaked sensitive government information to a convicted sex offender while serving as a minister, and even suggested a US bank should threaten the government to lower its tax bill.

“These allegations are incredibly serious, it is now only right that the police investigate Peter Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with then-ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with then-ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador’s residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington.

via Associated Press

Gordon Brown, who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010, also called for a probe after the “shocking” revelation on Monday.

“I have today asked the cabinet secretary to investigate the disclosure of confidential and market sensitive information from the then business department during the global financial crisis,” he said.

He revealed that he asked the cabinet secretary Chris Wormald to investigate “the veracity of information contained in the Epstein papers about the sale of assets arising from the banking collapse and communications about them between Lord Mandelson and Mr Epstein” back in September.

While that enquiry concluded that there was “no departmental record” of these conversations, Brown said these new documents suggested it was time for a “wider and more intensive inquiry”.

He said the probe should look at the “wholly unacceptable disclosure of government papers and information during the period when the country was battling the global financial crisis.”

Brown’s former government adviser Nick Butler also told Times Radio that Mandelson “should be ashamed of the breach of trust and the betrayal of trust that he’s been involved in”.

“I agree with Gordon Brown that there should be a full inquiry now into all the messages from the government at that time to Epstein,” he added.

“How many more messages on really important issues, important issues on which Epstein could have made a lot of money? How many messages were sent in that period? I think Peter should now resign from the Lords. I think that would be the honourable thing to do.”

Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones told MPs that the prime minister has orded the cabinet secretary to investigate Mandelson’s contact with Epstein.

He added: “Whilst Peter Mandelson must account for his actions and conduct, it is an understatement to say that his decision to continue a close relationship with a convicted paedophile, including discussing private government business, falls far below the standards expected of any minister. His behaviour was unequivocally wrong and an insult to the women and girls who suffered.”

Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador in September when it emerged he had remained friendly with Epstein after his 2008 conviction.

He then quit Labour on Sunday night after the documents appeared to show him receiving $75,000 from the late financier, claiming he did not want to cause “further embarrassment”.

Mandelson remains a peer, but prime minister Keir Starmer suggested he should be kicked out of the House of Lords on Monday.

His spokesperson said the government wants to work with the Lords to “strengthen the circumstances in which disgraced members can be removed” from parliament.

He said Starmer “believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title”.

At the moment, it requires an act of parliament is required to removed an individual from the Lords.

A Labour Party spokesman said: “It is right that Peter Mandelson is no longer a member of the Labour Party. Disciplinary action was underway prior to his resignation.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes destroyed the lives of so many women and girls, and our thoughts remain with his victims.”

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Keir Starmer’s Call For Mandelson To Lose His Peerage Is His Biggest U-Turn Yet

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If a week is a long time in politics, 14 months is a lifetime.

Back on December 20, 2024, Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” that Lord Peter Mandelson was going to be the UK’s next ambassador to Washington.

“The United States is one of our most important allies and as we move into a new chapter in our friendship, Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership from strength to strength,” the prime minister gushed.

Two months later, on February 26 last year, Starmer gently poked fun at Mandelson at a welcome reception hosted at the newly-installed ambassador’s plush residence.

“I’ve only just arrived but already I can feel there’s a real buzz around Washington right now,” said the PM. “You can sense that there’s a new leader. He’s a true one-off, a pioneer in business, in politics.

“Many people love him. Others love to hate him. But to us, he’s just … Peter.”

Less than 12 months on, however, and Starmer has performed what may well be his biggest U-turn yet.

It is a crowded field, of course. In just 18 months in No.10, the prime minister has performed a 180 on winter fuel payments, benefit cuts, the two-child benefit cap, farmers’ inheritance tax and pub business rates, to name just a few.

But his change of position on Mandelson is particularly breathtaking.

Once the indispensable bridge between Downing Street and the White House, the former Labour peer is now persona non grata and should, according to the PM, be expunged from public life forthwith.

Keir Starmer and his former US ambassador Peter Mandelson.

Keir Starmer and his former US ambassador Peter Mandelson.

via Associated Press

In September last year, just hours after telling MPs he retained full confidence in him, Starmer sacked Mandelson over his links to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Now, he has gone even further by demanding that that Mandelson – who resigned his Labour membership on Sunday night before the party could kick him out – should lose the peerage given to him by Gordon Brown in 2009.

“The prime minister believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title,” his spokesman said on Monday.

“We want to reform the House of Lords and that includes strengthening the circumstances in which disgraced members can be removed.”

Of course, no one will shed any tears for Mandelson, who maintained contact with his “best pal” Epstein even after his conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution.

A fresh trove of documents released by the US Department of Justice over the weekend also suggest that the former business secretary received $75,000 from the late billionaire financier, and sent him highly-sensitive, market-moving government information while sitting round the cabinet table.

Starmer has been left with no option other than to cut all ties with the man he lauded less than a year ago.

But this mother of all U-turns once again exposes the PM’s woeful lack of judgment and comes at a time when his MPs’ wafer-thin patience in him is already at breaking point.

With a crunch by-election to come on February 26, and local elections to follow on May 7, this latest scandal could hardly have come at a worse time for a prime minister fighting for his political life.

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Lord Mandelson Resigns From Labour Party After Latest Jeffrey Epstein Revelations

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Lord Mandelson has resigned his membership of the Labour Party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” following further revelations about his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, featured in a fresh batch of documents appearing to show him receiving $75,000 from the late financier.

In one bank statement, a payment of $25,000 to the account of Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now Lord Mandelson’s husband, features on May 14, 2003.

The statement appears to describe “Peter Mandelson” as the beneficiary of the payment.

Two later statements from May and June 2004 also feature $25,000 payments to Mandelson, one to an account which appears in his name, and another in which he appears to be listed as a beneficiary.

The peer told the BBC he had no recollection of receiving the payments, and did not know if the documents were genuine.

However the revelations led to calls from Labour and opposition MPs for Keir Starmer to kick him out of the party.

Mandelson said he had written on Sunday evening to Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley to say he was quitting the party.

In his letter, he said: “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.

“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.

“While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.”

Elsewhere in the newly-released Epstein documents, undated photographs of Lord Mandelson show him in a T-shirt and his pants, standing in what appears to be a hotel room.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Cabinet Minister Squirms As He Is Reminded How He Described Peter Mandelson After His Sacking

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Minister Peter Kyle was put on the spot this morning over how he praised Peter Mandelson last week – even though Mandelson had just been sacked as US ambassador over his Jeffrey Epstein ties.

Keir Starmer fired his US ambassador more than a week ago, after it emerged that Mandelson had continued to support Epstein via email, even as he was facing child underage sex charges in 2008.

Mandelson’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender was already public knowledge when he was appointed less than a year ago.

And, speaking to Sky News last weekend – three days after Mandelson was fired – Kyle insisted that No.10 initially thought hiring the controversial figure as US ambassador was still worth the risk.

He said: “We knew that there were risks involved, but his talent led us to believe at the time that the risk was worth it.”

Kyle said while they “knew the relationship continued” after Epstein’s conviction, “the decision was taken in the national interest to try and use the specific talents that he had, which were singular and outstanding.”

Those remarks caused significant backlash with the public, especially as he said them after the depth of Mandelson’s links with Epstein post-arrest were revealed.

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday, presenter Rob Rinder asked Kyle if he still stood by that assessment.

Kyle just insisted that new evidence had come to light which was not available at the time of Mandelson’s hiring.

“That just doesn’t answer the question,” Rinder hit back. “Let me ask you in this way.”

He said it was well-known that Mandelson had previously stayed in the home of a convicted sex trafficker at the time of his appointment, adding: “At that point, anyone doing analysis, doing any kind of investigating [or vetting], would have said ‘Where are your emails?’”

Kyle said there was an independent vetting system in place that was operating in its usual way – before deflecting to talk about the impact of Donald Trump’s state visit.

But co-presenter Kate Garraway brought the conversation back to Mandelson, pointing out that Kyle has been criticised because he “continued to defend” him post-sacking.

“One minister told us at Good Morning Britain that you seem to be ‘tone-deaf’,” she added. “And other MPs have said that too. Is it going to have an impact on you?”

The cabinet minister replied: “Let me be really clear: I do not defend any of the actions that Peter Mandelson took in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, absolutely not.

“What I am trying to do is show that we have been focused on delivering for people. As soon as new evidence came to light, why on earth would I ever defend what had come to light in those emails?”

“But it had?” Garraway pointed out. “It had come to light.”

Kyle stuttered before insisting: “The context of those emails was not known at the time of appointment.”

“No, but your defence was!” Garraway said.

Rinder cut in: “To close it off, the statement you made – that his ‘singular talents’ were worth the risk – you no longer think that?”

“What I said at the time of this coming out was explaining why he was appointed in the first place,” Kyle insisted.

“No one is appointed to being ambassador of a great country on behalf of our country, unless they have talents.”

He added that Mandelson should have been recalled as soon as new information came to light.

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Cabinet Minister Heaps Praise On ‘Outstanding’ Peter Mandelson Despite Sacking Over Epstein Row

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A cabinet minister has described Peter Mandelson as “outstanding” despite him being sacked over his close links with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Peter Kyle, an ally of the former UK ambassador to Washington, also defended Keir Starmer’s decision to give him the job in the first place.

Mandelson was sacked on Thursday morning following the publication of emails in which he told Epstein “your friends stay with you and love you” even as he was facing child underage sex charges in 2008.

On Sky News this morning, business secretary Kyle admitted No.10 knew Mandelson and Epstein had “a strong relationship” before Starmer made him ambassador in February.

He said: “We knew that there were risks involved, but his talent led us to believe at the time that the risk was worth it.”

Presenter Trevor Phillips asked him: “The prime minister interrogated Lord Mandelson about the relationship with Epstein himself. This is one of the country’s leading barristers. If he couldn’t have actually got the information from Peter Mandelson before the appointment, who could? Who failed here?”

Kyle said: “There was a lot of information publicly, we knew there was a relationship, we knew the relationship continued after he had been convicted.

“The decision was taken in the national interest to try and use the specific talents that he had, which were singular and outstanding.”

Bizarrely, the business secretary went on to claim that “we only knew what the media knew” about Mandelson’s links to Epstein, despite the Labour peer having to go through so-called “deep vetting” before getting the job.

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Peter Mandelson Confronted By Sky News Reporter Over His Links To Jeffrey Epstein

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Peter Mandelson has been confronted by a Sky News reporter over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Labour peer, who is the UK’s ambassador to the United States, was quizzed by James Matthews after delivering a speech in Washington.

Epstein, the convicted sex offender and financier who died in 2019, allegedly had a “close relationship” with both Mandelson and Prince Andrew, according to an internal JPMorgan report from six years ago.

Asked by Matthews if he had stayed at Epstein’s apartment in Manhattan in June, 2009, Mandelson said: “I’m not answering any questions about him.”

The reporter then said: “He was in jail at the time for soliciting prostitution from a minor.”

Mandelson said: “My knowledge of him is something I regret. I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

Matthews then asked again: “Why did you have an association with him, because he was in jail at the time?”

Walking off, the Labour peer replied: “Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker and I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

In February, Mandelson told Financial Times political editor George Parker to “fuck off” when he asked him about his links to Epstein.

“I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell,” Mandelson said.

She is currently in prison for recruiting and trafficking underaged girls for the financier.

Mandelson also said: “I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.”

However, according to the FT report, “an icy chill” then descended during their conversation, and Mandelson added: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly you can all fuck off. OK?”

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Peter Mandelson To Be Named Britain’s Ambassador To America

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Peter Mandelson is to become the UK’s next ambassador to the United States.

The Labour peer and former cabinet minister is expected to take up the role in the New Year.

He will take over from Dame Karen Pierce, the current ambassador, whose tenure is will come to an end at the start of 2025.

A government source said: “The fact the prime minister has chosen to make a political appointment and send Lord Mandelson to Washington shows just how importantly we see our relationship with the Trump administration.

“We’re sending someone close to the prime minister with unrivalled political and policy experience, particularly on the crucial issue of trade. He’s the ideal candidate to represent the UK’s economic and security interests in the USA.”

Lord Mandelson served in government under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who controversially made him a peer to bring him back into the cabinet as business secretary in 2008.

The former MP for Hartlepool had been the Britain’s European commissioner since 2004.

Last month, the Labour peer told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show last month that he would be “very interested” in giving advice on trade to whoever became the UK’s ambassador to America.

He said: “Can I just make the point if you don’t mind: nobody has spoken to me about this job.

“I read about it in the papers but nobody has actually spoken to me about it, so let’s put it to one side.”

Pushed further on whether he would be interested in the role, the former government minister said: “I would be very interested indeed in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed.”

Lord Mandelson also said last month that the government should consider using Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as a “bridge” to president-elect Trump and Elon Musk.

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Labour Won’t Win Election With ‘Tory Sleaze’ Attacks Alone, Peter Mandelson Warns

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Attacking “Tory sleaze” will not win the next election for Labour alone and Keir Starmer needs to go on the attack against Boris Johnson, Lord Mandelson has said.

The party grandee told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast that while Labour’s local election attacks around “cronyism” and the lobbying scandal will “loosen and crumble” Tory support, it will not be enough to win nationally in 2024.

Starmer must also present a “credible and attractive alternative”, as well as showing Labour is strong enough to “tear [the Tories] inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country”.

Mandelson told Commons People: “One thing is clear to me – it’s that Tory sleaze is not going to win the next election for Labour.

“It will loosen and crumble a lot of support for the Tories and people will reach the conclusion that they are out for themselves and that they suit themselves and they fill the pockets of their own cronies and supporters, that’s true.

“But that doesn’t mean to say that Labour’s just got to sit back and wait for the election to fall into their laps.

“That’s not how you win elections. 

“So fine, make the point, but you’ve got to present a credible and attractive alternative if you want people to vote for you.” 

Speaking from Hartlepool where he is campaigning for Labour ahead of the crunch May 6 by-election, Mandelson said the party had a “real fight” in the seat, where it was “completely outgunned” by the combined Tory and Brexit Party vote in 2019.

Johnson is also benefitting from a “vaccine bounce” in the polls, while voters in Hartlepool felt Labour had “lost its way over the last decade” because it was nationally “rubbish” and “fell into bad hands” locally, and that the party took the town for granted.

“Then along came Brexit which loosened the cement even more, and frankly Corbyn then was the final hammer blow for Labour in this town, and then we had the disastrous results in the election in 2019,” he said. 

GLYN KIRK via Getty Images

Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson 

But now, he said, they feel “Labour is coming home, that there is a new broom, and they feel it nationally with Keir Starmer and I’m glad to say they feel it locally”.

“Increasingly, people are seeing Labour as a credible alternative, they do see Keir Starmer as a man of principles and of integrity.

“But they want to know a lot more about him and what he believes in and what the policies of the Labour Party will be at the next election before they are prepared to transfer their allegiance to him and the Labour Party.

Pointing out that Labour’s leadership has been “hermetically sealed” from the public due to Covid, he said that now the party has to make its case “with greater intensity, and more speed and more focus than we’ve been doing at any time in the last year”.

Asked if Starmer needs to freshen up the shadow cabinet, Mandelson said: “He’ll know what to do when the time comes and I’m not going to start giving him advice or lessons about how he should do his job.

“All I know is this – that people want Labour to make the weather.

“They want Labour to make the news.

“They want the Tories properly taken apart.

“If you fall short, if it’s a bit weak, if it’s a bit flabby, if it appears not to know how to use the media well, if it’s not doing its opposition research well and honing its attacks and creating the ammunition, and [having] people strong enough to fire that ammunition in the Tory direction, then people are going to say well, are Labour strong enough?”

Mandelson went on: “You don’t win elections by going through the motions, you don’t win elections by saying nice things about yourself.

“You’ve got to go for your opponents as well, tear them inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country.

“And then people will look to you, and when they do look to you, you better have a credible, affordable set of modern policies for people to vote for.

“And that’s what Labour’s got to create over the next year or so.”

He added: “I want my party to win, I’m fed up of losing, I’m fed up to my back teeth of losing, I want to see my party winning again, and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I work for it.”

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