Details emerge of why peer failed ambassador vetting

Peter Mandelson failed security vetting for the US ambassador job because of his links to China, Russia and Israel, sources have confirmed.

- DAVID MADDOX POLITICAL EDITOR

Security services said the disgraced Labour peer should be denied clearance for the top Washington role because of his associations with China’s minister of finance, Lan Fo’an, the sanctions-hit Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a former Israeli military intelligence general, Tamir Hayman, sources told The Independent.

But the decision was overridden by the Foreign Office, and he was appointed regardless.

Of particular concern was the fact that Lord Mandelson retained his Russian business links well after Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Crimea, the first offensive action against Ukraine in 2014, before the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

The latest revelations, first revealed by The Guardian, come amid growing tensions over delays to the publication of the latest tranche of papers relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson to the UK’s most important diplomatic role.

In January 2025, The Independent revealed that concerns over Lord Mandelson’s close business ties to China had led Donald Trump to consider rejecting his credentials as the UK’s ambassador.