A newly released tranche of internal UK government documents revealed that Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer chose to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite having been made aware that the senior Labour Party operative continued his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein long after his child prostitution conviction.
Prime Minister Starmer is facing renewed calls for his resignation after documents released showed that he and his deputies were repeatedly warned about appointing the former Tony Blair communications director to the top diplomatic posting in Washington.
A “due diligence” background check on Mandelson provided to the prime minister before the appointment stated, per Sky News: “After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was Business Minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government.”
“Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s House while he was in jail in June 2009,” the report given to Starmer added.
The prime minister was also warned that there was a “general reputational risk” with having Mandelson as such a key member of his government due to his long-standing relationship with the infamous paedophile moneyman.
The potential political pitfalls were also expressed by then-cabinet secretary Simon Case, who said that while the Mandelson appointment may be beneficial given the “strong connection with the PM”, he warned Starmer: “If anything goes wrong, you could be more exposed as the individual is more connected to you personally.”
Despite the concerns expressed, the documents revealed that Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, described the process of appointing Mandelson as U.S. ambassador as “weirdly rushed”.
The internal records said that Powell had raised concerns about Mandelson’s appointment to then-chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who is said to have responded: “that the issues had been addressed”.
The documents revealed that McSweeney was also aware of Mandelson’s continued relationship with Epstein and yet decided to still advocate on his behalf.
McSweeney, who previously ran an anti-Breitbart censorship group, fell on his sword in February, resigning from his post in an apparent bid to save Starmer’s premiership from controversy surrounding Epstein revelations in the U.S. Department of Justice files.
This included the allegation that Mandelson had allegedly leaked classified government financial information to Epstein amid the 2008 financial crisis. He is currently under police investigation over the allegations.
However, the latest document dump has renewed calls for Starmer to step down, including left-wing Green Party leader Zack Polanski, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, and Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf.
Yusuf said: “I would say that Keir Starmer should resign… It’s clear he’s prime minister in name only.”
Badenoch said that the documents revealed that Starmer should have “never made this decision” and that he is “unfit” to lead the country.
The scandal does not appear to be going anywhere either, with the government still holding large numbers of documents concerning the matter. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said that the government’s “intention is to publish the rest of those documents in that second tranche as quickly as we can”.
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