![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20892ff0f5332304fc3f22e4eb76b245c2-Starmer-Mandelson-02-09-26.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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\n Peter Mandelson and Keir Starmer in Washington, D.C., in February 2025.
\n Photo: Carl Court\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Like many rich and powerful men before him<\/a>, the British politician Peter Mandelson<\/a> remained in politics even after his many connections to Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> became public in the years after the sex criminal\u2019s death. But last year, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to the United States after new documents showed the extent of their friendship \u2014 including emails<\/a> in which Mandelson wrote that he was \u201cfurious\u201d about Epstein\u2019s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor.<\/p>\n With the Justice Department\u2019s massive release of Epstein material<\/a> on January 30, Mandelson\u2019s relationship is now threatening the entire Starmer administration, with multiple resignations and calls for the PM to step down for his decision to appoint Mandelson as ambassador in late 2024.<\/p>\n This time, the crisis stems from Mandelson\u2019s emails during the financial crisis in which he gave Epstein market-sensitive information about the British government\u2019s plans, including advance warning<\/a> in May 2010 that Parliament had agreed on a \u20ac500 billion bailout. There are also bank statements suggesting<\/a> Epstein wired around $75,000 to Mandelson in 2003 and 2004. On Sunday, Starmer\u2019s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney announced his resignation, stating that the decision to include Mandelson in the government \u201chas damaged our party, our country, and trust in politics itself.\u201d McSweeney has been described as a protege<\/a> of Mandelson and reportedly<\/a> defended him as Starmer weighed the decision to fire his ambassador in September. In his statement, he added that he advised Starmer to appoint Mandelson in the first place \u201cand I take full responsibility for that advice.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, Starmer\u2019s director of communications Tim Allan also resigned While the rest of Starmer\u2019s cabinet is standing by their boss, the Labour Party leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, called for Starmer\u2019s resignation on Monday for appointing Mandelson despite loads of documents<\/a> connecting him to Epstein<\/a> by the time he made his decision to include him in his administration. \u201cI have to be honest about failure wherever I see it,\u201d said<\/a> Sarwar, who appears to be creating some distance between himself and Starmer before the Scottish election in May.<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s remaining spokesperson said<\/a> on Monday that the PM had no intentions of stepping down. In a statement<\/a> last week, he apologized to Epstein\u2019s victims. \u201cI am sorry. Sorry for what was done to you,\u201d he said. \u201cSorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson\u2019s lies and appointed him.\u201d Meanwhile, Mandelson, has taken another hit to his reputation, stepping down from the House of Lords last week.<\/p>\n The situation in the U.K. \u2014 where politicians are stepping down for their connection to a man connected to Epstein \u2014 is a stark contrast to the United States, where President Donald Trump was close friends with Epstein for years and his Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick has been accused by members of Congress<\/a> of lying about his connections to Epstein, his Upper East Side neighbor. The last major Trump administration figure to resign over his connections to Epstein came during the first term, when Labor Secretary Alex Acosta<\/a> stepped down in 2019 for his role in orchestrating Epstein\u2019s extremely lenient plea deal for soliciting a minor in 2008.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Intelligencer\u00a0Newsletter<\/p>\n Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
over his connections to Mandelson just five months after taking the position. \u201cI have decided to stand down to allow a new No. 10 team to be built,\u201d he said in a statement. Allan was a friend of Mandelson who worked closely with him in the 1990s under Tony Blair, when Mandelson served in top roles in the State department.<\/p>\n