Peter Mandelson ‘betrayed our country’, Starmer tells MPs

Peter Mandelson “betrayed our country” by leaking information to Jeffrey Epstein, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said Lord Mandelson had “lied repeatedly” about his relationship with paedophile financier Epstein during the appointment process to the US ambassador role.

The Prime Minister also said he had spoken to the King to have Lord Mandelson removed from the Privy Council.

Sir Keir said: “Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party.

“He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador, I regret appointing him.

“If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”

Lord Mandelson has quit the House of Lords, but Sir Keir said legislation was being drafted to stop him from continuing to use the title.

And he said he had agreed with the King that Lord Mandelson should no longer be a privy counsellor – which allows him to be described as “right honourable” – because he had “brought the reputation of the Privy Council into disrepute”.

Papers on Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US will be released by the Government after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used a parliamentary process to demand the documents.

On Wednesday afternoon she will call for all documents showing how Lord Mandelson got the Washington job, including messages exchanged with key figures in Sir Keir’s inner circle including chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and top ministers.

The Prime Minister has agreed to release papers as long as they do not prejudice national security or international relations.

He said the Metropolitan Police had also raised issues about anything that would prejudice their investigation into Lord Mandelson’s alleged misconduct in public office.

Lord Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from his Washington role in September last year over his links with Epstein.

Sir Keir acknowledged he had known about Lord Mandelson’s association with the sex offender, but said the peer had lied about the extent of that relationship.

Mrs Badenoch asked: “Did the official security vetting he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?”

Sir Keir replied: “Yes it did. As a result, various questions were put to him.

“I intend to disclose to this House all of the – national security, prejudice to international relations on one side – I want to make sure this House sees the full documentation so it will see for itself the extent to which, time and time again, Mandelson completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein and lied throughout the process.”

Mrs Badenoch has tabled a humble address motion in the Commons, an arcane parliamentary mechanism to compel the Government to release documents including due diligence work carried out by the Cabinet Office and emails between Lord Mandelson and his ally Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

The Government’s amendment, agreeing to release the papers except for anything which would jeopardise security or diplomatic ties, appears to accept the level of anger on the Labour benches about the Mandelson affair, which could have led to a revolt if MPs were whipped to oppose the release of papers.

But Mrs Badenoch warned: “This Government is trying to sabotage that release with an amendment to let him choose what we see. Labour MPs now have to decide if they want to be accessories to his cover-up.”

Sir Keir said Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald would lead the process of deciding what could be released and he hoped MPs would understand “the sensitivity of information about security and intelligence and trade relations that are inevitably caught in exchanges of the nature that have been asked for”.

Documents released as part of the US Department of Justice’s Epstein Files appear to show Lord Mandelson passing potentially market sensitive information to his friend in 2009, while he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.

Lord Mandelson has been approached for comment and while he has yet to speak publicly, the BBC said it understood he maintains he did not act criminally and that his actions were not for personal gain.

The BBC reported Lord Mandelson argues he had sought Epstein’s expertise in the national interest before the financial crisis.

Following the Prime Minister’s Questions exchanges a Conservative spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has just admitted that the official security vetting highlighted Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but he went ahead and appointed him anyway.

“This is the first time the Prime Minister has admitted this and it raises very serious questions over Keir Starmer’s shocking judgment.

“The PM is now trying to orchestrate a cover-up by having his own Government mark his homework.

“All MPs must now support the Conservatives’ humble address so that we reveal the full extent of this scandal and the shocking failure of Keir Starmer and his operation.”