Epstein files: UK will release documents on Lord Mandelson's ambassador appointment as Starmer faces revolt

The UK government has agreed to release documents casting light on the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, as British PM Keir Starmer emerges as the latest high-profile figure in danger of being brought down by the continuing scandal swirling from the dead paedophile financier’s ties to high society.

Prime Minister Starmer faced the wrath of opposition lawmakers, and his own Labour Party backbenchers, after acknowledging that he had known at the time of the 2024 appointment about Mandelson’s friendship with the convicted sex offender.

His admissions came just days after Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify to a Congressional Epstein inquiry and at the same time emails from Epstein’s imprisoned mistress Ghislaine Maxwell appeared to confirm that an infamous photo showing exiled royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and underage Epstein abuse victim Virginia Giuffre was genuine.

First Lady Melania Trump was also dragged into the turmoil overnight when she pushed back on a reporter who tried to ask her about Maxwell while meeting with a freed Hamas hostage.

Sir Keir said that he was unaware of the depth of the relationship between Lord Mandelson and Epstein, and that the Labour peer had “lied repeatedly” about his ties to Epstein.

A trove of documents about Epstein released last week by the US Justice Department has finished off Lord Mandelson’s long political career — and left Sir Keir facing angry questions about his judgment in making him Britain’s envoy to the Trump administration, the country’s most important ambassadorial post.

Starmer’s judgment questioned

Sir Keir fired Lord Mandelson, 72, in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offences involving a minor. Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019, while awaiting trial on US federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.

At a question-and-answer session in the House of Commons dominated by the Epstein revelations, Sir Keir said that Mandelson had “lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador.”

“Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party,” Sir Keir said. “I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”

The opposition Conservative Party said that explanation wasn’t good enough, and called for a vote in Parliament calling for the release of emails and other documentation related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment.

Sir Keir said that he would ensure that “all of the material” is published, except for documents that compromise Britain’s national security, international relations or the police investigation into Mandelson’s activities.

Opposition lawmakers — and some from Sir Keir Labour Party — said that they worried the government would use national security as an excuse to keep embarrassing documents secret.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the Government should publish all relevant files, “not just the ones the Prime Minister wants us to see.”

“The Prime Minister is talking about national security. The national security issue was appointing Mandelson in the first place,” she said.

After hours of House of Commons debate, a vote was averted when the Government gave in to lawmakers’ anger and agreed that the Intelligence and Security Committee — made up of parliamentarians from several parties — would decide what papers should be published, rather than a senior civil servant as Sir Keir had proposed.

It’s unclear when the documents will be released.

Police investigation

Documents released last week by the US government suggest Lord Mandelson may have shared sensitive information with Epstein when he was a government minister around 15 years ago.

In 2009, he appears to have told Epstein that he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses, and passed on an internal government report discussing a potential sale of UK government assets. The following year, he appears to have tipped off Epstein about the imminent bailout of the European single currency.

The newly released files also suggest that in 2003-2004, Epstein sent three payments totalling $US75,000 ($107,000) to accounts linked to Lord Mandelson or his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now his husband.

Since those disclosures, Lord Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords and faces a police investigation for alleged misconduct in public office, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Opening an investigation doesn’t mean Lord Mandelson will be arrested, charged or convicted.

London’s Metropolitan Police force urged the Government not to release “certain documents” that it said could undermine its investigation.

Sir Keir said that the government was working on legislation to remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that the ex-ambassador still holds. He will also be removed from the Privy Council, a committee of senior officials that advises King Charles III, for bringing “the reputation of the Privy Council into disrepute,” Sir Keir said.

An email requesting comment on the documents was sent to Mandelson through the House of Lords.

The European Union is also investigating potential wrongdoing by Mandelson when he was the bloc’s trade commissioner between 2004 and 2008. The UK was an EU member until 2020.

“We will be assessing if, in light of these newly available documents, there might be a breaches of the respective rules with regard to Peter Mandelson,” European Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said. “We have rules in place, emanating from the treaty and the code of conduct that commissioners, including former commissioners, have to follow.”

More royal revelations

Meanwhile Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was unceremoniously ejected from his royal residence in Windsor to Sandringham Estate in Norfolk this week over further Epstein revelations, was dragged back into the scandal over a photo showing him with his arm around his sex abuse accuser Giuffre, with Maxwell in the background smiling.

The former prince, who has denied any wrongdoing, had previously suggested the image was doctored and has maintained that he never met Giuffre, who died in April 2025.

However, a 2015 email released in the latest Epstein files headed “draft statement” which appeared to be sent to Epstein by a “G Maxwell” appeared to contradict his claims.

According to the BBC, Maxwell wrote in the email: “In 2001 I was in London when (redacted) met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family”.

While the name has been redacted from the statement published by the US Department of Justice, the details show that Maxwell was discussing Giuffre, who alleged that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had sex with her on three occasions while she was still a teenager.

While the former royal has denied the allegations, he reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.

The email confirmation comes just days after the latest batch of documents included other images of the then-Prince kneeling on all fours over a woman lying on the ground, as well as an invite to Buckingham Palace for Epstein.

Melania hits back

The First Lady shot down a reporter’s questions over Maxwell overnight as well during a White House reception for American-Israeli Keith Siegel, who had been released from Hamas captivity.

CNN’s Betsy Klein asked Melania about the calls for Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years’ jail for sex trafficking in 2022, to be moved to a high security prison in light of the latest Epstein file revelations.

“We are here celebrating the release and the life of these two incredible people,” Ms Trump replied. “So let’s honour that, thankyou.”

Amid the 3.5 million files released by the DOJ on Friday was one 2002 email addressed to Maxwell bearing the sign-off, ‘Love Melania’ and which appeared to congratulate Maxwell on her picture in a New York Magazine article on Epstein titled “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery”.

She was also questioned on Wednesday on if the meeting with the freed hostages was being used to promote her new titular film, which also features Mr Siegel’s wife Aviva in it as part of the First Lady’s push for his freedom.

“It is nothing to do with promotion,” the First Lady replied.