Britain’s beleaguered prime minister, Keir Starmer, was braced for fresh embarrassment on Monday after his government released hundreds of documents relating to Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to the United States who was fired over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
More than 1,500 pages were released on Monday afternoon, including dozens of pages of text messages, in a highly unusual display of transparency that was forced on the government by opposition lawmakers.
We are reading through the documents and will update this story as we go. The files include:
-
A hand written letter to David Lammy, then the British foreign secretary, in November 2024 in which Mr. Mandelson promised: “I wanted you to know that if you were minded to appoint me I would make sure you never regret it.”
-
In the same letter Mr. Mandelson argued that “navigating Britain’s interests through the Trump administration will require superhuman skills and luck and a massive team effort.”
-
A WhatsApp exchange with a senior cabinet minister, Pat McFadden, in which Mr. Mandelson wrote that the difficulties of Mr. Starmer’s government in setting out a direction stem “from the top and Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole. People’s heads are broadly in the right place but you need more people who can execute.”
-
In another WhatsApp conversation Mr. Mandelson described going into Downing Street and finding it “beleaguered and bereft,” adding: “It requires complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere.” Key staff there do not “really know what Keir thinks or wants,” Mr. Mandelson wrote. “In fact most of them don’t think Keir knows what he wants.”
-
An internal Foreign Office email about a gift for President Trump stating: “Washington, as I’m sure you know, is clear that one of the gifts that would mean the most to the President would be a red dispatch box with the gold crest and lettering mimicking a U.K. Government Ministerial box but with ‘President of the United States’ inscribed upon it.”
-
A memo to Mr. Starmer in which Mr. Mandelson wrote that “President Trump has brought his particular stamp to the White House,” that “America first is the lodestar of his administration” and that, over the next four years the country “will play the international system by a different set of rules — impacting trade, foreign policy and domestic policy with international implications.” He added that the administration had acted with “amazing vigor.”
Mr. Mandelson lost his job last year after leaked emails showed the depth and extent of his friendship with Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender, kindling a political crisis in Britain.
In March, a preliminary release of documents, demanded by opposition lawmakers, showed that British vetting officials had recommended against granting top-level security clearances to Mr. Mandelson before he was made Britain’s top envoy to the United States. But the recommendation was overruled by Olly Robbins, the top official at the Foreign Office.
Mr. Starmer has said that he was lied to by Mr. Mandelson over the extent of his ties to Mr. Epstein. Mr. Starmer has also said that he was not told about the security clearance recommendation.
The furor over Mr. Mandelson’s appointment prompted the firing of Mr. Robbins in April, and helped to destabilize Mr. Starmer’s position as prime minister and as leader of the governing Labour Party.
The batch of documents included those relating to the time that Mr. Mandelson spent as ambassador in Washington, including emails and WhatsApp messages that he exchanged with senior members of the British government. He took up the diplomatic post on February 2025 and was fired in September.
Mr. Mandelson is under criminal investigation on allegations of misconduct in public office after allegations that he passed confidential government information to Mr. Epstein while serving in a previous Labour government, in 2009 and 2010. Mr. Mandelson has denied criminal wrongdoing, and he is cooperating with the police. He was arrested and released on bail in February this year and has not been charged.
Under pressure from opposition lawmakers, the government has promised that all relevant documents will be published, apart from those that the police have asked to be held back while they conduct their investigation.
Some documents were heavily redacted on national security or international relations grounds, or to remove the names of junior officials.
Mr. Starmer’s political fortunes worsened last month after poor local election results and the resignation of a senior cabinet minister, Wes Streeting. That prompted speculation that the prime minister could face a leadership challenge later this year. One of the main contenders, Andy Burnham, currently the mayor of Manchester, a city in northwestern England, is running in a special election to return to Parliament. If Mr. Burnham wins that election, it would make him eligible to be a candidate in any Labour leadership contest.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
