MANDELSON FILES: WASHINGTON APPOINTMENT ‘WEIRDLY RUSHED’

SIR Keir Starmer was warned there was a "general reputational risk" over Lord Mandelson's relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein before giving him the role of ambassador to the US.

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

A "due diligence" document drawn up by the Cabinet Office in December 2024 before his appointment to the Washington role noted a series of reports detailing his links with Epstein.

Mandelson was awarded a £75,000 taxpayer-funded payout when sacked nine months later, in September 2025, after further details of his relationship with Epstein emerged.

Details of his appointment and removal from office were revealed in the first batch of documents relating to the peer released by the Government in response to a demand from MPs.

The files showed national security adviser Jonathan Powell believed the process for giving Lord Mandelson the job was "weirdly rushed" and the Prime Minister was also warned by officials of the potential risk to him personally.

The due diligence document included reference to a JP Morgan report from 2019 that stated that Mandelson and Epstein were "particularly close".

The Cabinet Office report explicitly mentioned reports the pair continued contact after Epstein was convicted of child sex offences, and Mandelson stayed at Epstein's townhouse while the financier was in jail in 2009.

It noted that 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", noting that "Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein's house while he was in jail in June 2009".