A due diligence dossier on Lord Mandelson sent to Sir Keir Starmer contained a Telegraph story on his links with Jeffrey Epstein. Photo / Daily Telegraph UK
Sir Keir Starmer was shown evidence of Lord Peter Mandelson’s close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him as US ambassador.
Civil servants included a Telegraph article in a “due diligence” dossier on the disgraced peer, which was sent to the Prime Minister in late 2024.
Starmer has repeatedly claimed he was unaware of the “depth” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein before he appointed him to run the British embassy in Washington.
But critics have called on him to resign for knowingly appointing an ambassador with extensive links to one of the world’s most notorious paedophiles.
Starmer said last week that Cabinet Office officials had compiled a file on Lord Mandelson as part of a routine process before his appointment was announced in December 2024.
He blamed the due diligence and vetting process for the decision to go ahead with the appointment, telling reporters that the systems “need to be looked at again”.
Downing Street has long suggested that while Starmer had a general understanding of Mandelson and Epstein’s association, he believed the peer’s lie that they were not close.
However, it can now be revealed the Mandelson file sent to Starmer before the lord’s appointment contained a detailed explanation of his links to Epstein, which had been published months earlier by the Telegraph.
The story, published in January 2024, contained a summary of all publicly available information about the links between the two men, including that Mandelson stayed in Epstein’s New York apartment after the financier’s conviction for soliciting child prostitutes. It also referred to the peer’s now-notorious nickname: “Petie”.
The story included a photograph of the men shopping together on St Barts, near Epstein’s private island, and reported that Mandelson was a “founding citizen” of TerraMar, a conservation project run by Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Other connections reported in the story were that Mandelson dined with Epstein at the banker’s home in 2002 and that they were pictured together celebrating a birthday at Epstein’s Paris apartment in January 2007 – a year after Epstein was charged with soliciting a woman for prostitution.
The most damning link reported in the story was that a JP Morgan investigation had found that Mandelson stayed in Epstein’s apartment in New York in 2009, while he was in prison for child sex offences.
The same JP Morgan report found they had remained in contact after Epstein’s conviction, including in March 2010, when Mandelson asked him for information on new US banking regulations and in January 2011, when Epstein told a contact that “Petie” was with him in Paris.
The contents of the due diligence report about Mandelson have never been previously released, although the Telegraph reported last week that it contained publicly available information about Epstein and the peer’s lobbying business, Global Counsel.
The file was compiled by the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team and shared with Starmer, civil servants in his No 10 private office and Morgan McSweeney, his then chief of staff.
After reading the report, McSweeney contacted Mandelson directly and asked him to provide assurances about his relationship with Epstein that could be passed to Starmer.
It is understood that Mandelson denied he had a strong connection with Epstein, despite the Telegraph report, and McSweeney and Starmer believed him.
McSweeney resigned on Sunday after the scandal, admitting he had made an error of judgment over the appointment.
However, news that Starmer was given a detailed briefing about the contact between the two men drew into question his defence that he did not know about the “depth” of their relationship in late 2024.
At the press conference last week, he said that Mandelson was “asked directly about the nature of his relationship with Epstein”, including “whether he had stayed at Epstein’s after his conviction” and “whether he had accepted gifts and hospitality”.
Starmer said: “The information now available makes clear that the answers he gave were lies.
“He portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew. And when that became clear, and it was not true, I sacked him.
“Such deceit is incompatible with public service. Let me be clear, no one is above accountability and no one, however well connected, however experienced, however senior, should hold public office if they cannot meet the basic test of honesty.”
Mandelson has said he regrets his association with Epstein and denies committing any crime.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, said the news amounted to a “disgusting betrayal of Epstein’s victims”.
“The Prime Minister was warned in writing about Peter Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the world’s most notorious paedophile and still chose to appoint him as UK Ambassador to the United States.
“He must publish the vetting documents immediately and let the British public see exactly what he knew, and when.”
The news that Starmer was warned in detail about Lord Mandelson has also heightened fears that he will be dragged back into the scandal when the disgraced peer’s messages are published in the coming weeks.
One Labour minister told the Telegraph that Starmer’s position is now “untenable” because of the looming release of more documents, adding: “Things are not good”.
New polling showed that the public overwhelmingly thinks Starmer, rather than McSweeney, should be held responsible for the Mandelson fiasco.
The survey by More in Common found that voters were five times more likely to blame Starmer than his former chief adviser.
Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield said the news “should be enough to bring down a PM already sitting at rock bottom in the polls”.
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