Keir Starmer ignored warnings from a Labour colleague not to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, it has emerged. The Prime Minister is under pressure to sack Lord Mandelson, a former Labour cabinet minister, after emails were published showing the ambassador called child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein his “best pal” – and continued to support the predator even after Epstein was facing a jail sentence his crimes.
Labour peer Maurice Glasman warned Number 10 before Lord Mandelson began the job. He told Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney that Lord Mandelson was “the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place”. In a memo written on the evening of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, Lord Glasman warned that appointing Lord Mandelson risked “provoking” senior Republicans who already had reservations about the Labour government.
He said Republicans had showed him a photograph of Lord Mandelson with Epstein, the Daily Mail reports. Lord Glasman said: “The brutal truth is that the vast majority of people I met … consider our Labour Government to be a front organisation for paedophiles and Pakistani rape gangs.
“They consider our position on the Chagos Islands an example of progressive idiocy and our appointment of Peter Mandelson an unnecessary provocation. They think our Army has gone to hell and our country is overwhelmed by legal and illegal migrants.”
Immigration Minister Mike Tapp refused to comment on the latest damaging revelation when he conducted radio interviews this morning. He told Times Radio: “I don’t really want to hear what Glasman has to say, because he’s saying absolutely ridiculous things.”
Demands for Lord Mandelson’s resignation have grown after it emerged he sent paedophile Jeffrey Epstein a series of supportive messages even after Epstein was accused of child sex offences.
Lord Mandelson, a former Labour Cabinet Minister who was hand-picked by Sir Keir for the diplomatic role, wrote to US financier Epstein while he was facing charges in June 2008 and said: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
The FBI had opened an investigation into Epstein in 2006 and the US Attorney’s Office prepared an indictment in June 2007. On June 30 2008, Epstein appeared in court to plead guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution, and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
Details of the messages were published by the Sun, which also revealed that Lord Mandelson told Epstein: “Fight for early release.”
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Sir Keir threw his full support behind his Labour colleague. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons: “I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship.”
Sir Keir also deflected questions from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch about when he knew about the friendship between Lord Mandelson and Epstein, saying only that “full due process was followed during this appointment”.
The friendship was in the spotlight after the US House Oversight Committee published a 2003 “birthday book”, which includes a series of messages from Lord Mandelson to Epstein. In one, accompanied by a picture of the two chatting casually on a patio, Lord Mandelson wrote: “But whenever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!”
Victims of Epstein have demanded Mandelson be stripped of his role in Washington and returned to the UK.
One told the Express: “His position was not feasible before he was appointed ambassador and that remains the same, if not more so, today.”
Sir Keir will be under pressure to act before US President begins his state visit to the UK later this month.
Peter Mandelson, as he was known before joining the House of Lords in 2008, was a leading figure in the Labour Party in the late 1990s and early 2000s and a close ally of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Northern Ireland Secretary and Business Secretary.