Keir Starmer defended Peter Mandelson in the House of Commons two days after details of the damning emails between Lord Mandelson and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were passed to Downing Street, according to reports.
The prime minister sacked Mandelson as the British ambassador to the US on Thursday after the emails were published, revealing that Mandelson told Epstein “your friends stay with you and love you” while the disgraced financier was facing jail for sex offences.
The Foreign Office received a media enquiry outlining details of the messages on Tuesday, which was passed to No 10, the PA news agency and the Times have reported.
Sir Oliver Robbins, the permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office, allegedly asked Mandelson about the veracity of the emails he wrote to Epstein but did not receive a response until Wednesday afternoon, a government source told PA.
The prime minister is understood not to have been aware of the contents of the emails until Wednesday evening. By that time, he had told the Commons he had “confidence” in Mandelson, during prime minister’s questions at midday.
Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, backbench Labour MP Olivia Blake said the reports that Starmer was not told about Lord Mandelson’s emails to Jeffrey Epstein soon enough were “really embarrassing”. “Any operation that fails to tell a prime minister when something as substantial as those emails are presented to them clearly has deep failings.”
She added: “We saw through the welfare reforms that they did the same again. They didn’t tell Keir, they didn’t tell the prime minister how bad it was on the back benches. So, you know, he was putting statements out saying, ‘oh, some people can sound off’. Well, the strength of feeling in the PLP was much, much deeper than that. And again, I just think that whoever’s gatekeeping the information to the prime minister needs to stop. They need to be getting stuff to him much earlier so that he can get on top of it.”
She said the Labour party should consider whether Mandelson, who had displayed “a lack of judgment”, should continue to represent the party in the Lords as a Labour peer. “It’s very worrying that we’re in this position.”
On Thursday, the Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs that Mandelson had not disclosed at the time of his appointment the extent and depth of his friendship with Epstein.
Doughty said: “The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment. In particular, Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.”
He added that Mandelson was being withdrawn in the light of this information “with immediate effect”.
The Guardian was told that Starmer took the decision to sack Mandelson during a meeting with Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, on Thursday morning, after reviewing the new material on Mandelson’s defence of Epstein the previous night.
It is understood Mandelson himself had not, until the leak, had access to the emails written in 2008 because they came from a long-deleted account, which was not available during the Foreign Office’s vetting process for the role of ambassador.
However, his friendship with Epstein was known before his appointment, and he is reported to have told the Times that he admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years.
skip past newsletter promotion
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Downing Street said on Friday that Starmer has “confidence in his top team” when asked whether questions had been raised over the judgment of the chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who was reported to have lobbied for Mandelson’s appointment.
Backbencher Clive Lewis publicly questioned Starmer’s leadership, telling the BBC the prime minister does not seem “up to the job”.
Barry Gardiner, another MP from the party’s back benches, said “toxic” resentment was festering among the party’s MPs and rank and file members.
Lucy Powell, one of two candidates in the race to take Angela Rayner’s place as the Labour party’s deputy leader, called for a “change of culture”.
“We’ve got a bit of a groupthink happening at the top, that culture of not being receptive to interrogation, not being receptive to differing views,” she said.
The Guardian has contacted Downing Street for a comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/13/keir-starmer-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein-emails