UK PM Keir Starmer Launches Investigation Into Epstein Ties After Envoy’s Dismissal
Starmer is of the view that Mandelson should lose his peerage and step down from his position in Parliament’s upper house, the House of Lords.
Downing Street said on Monday that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered an urgent investigation into the links between former London ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson and the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer also believes that Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage and should no longer sit in the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament.
The review, which will be led by Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald, follows recently released US documents that have reopened scrutiny of Mandelson’s close connections with the disgraced financier.
A spokesperson said it would “examine all available information regarding Peter Mandelson’s contacts with Jeffrey Epstein while he was a minister in government.”
Mandelson—who played a key role in rebuilding the Labour Party as an electoral force under Tony Blair in the 1990s—resigned from the party on Sunday to avoid “further embarrassment” for the party.
Bank records released by US authorities on Friday showed that in 2009, Mandelson, who was then business secretary, forwarded an economic briefing to Epstein for then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, captioned: “Interesting note sent to the PM.”
Epstein also appears to have transferred a total of $75,000 (£55,000) in three payments to an account linked to the senior Labour figure between 2003 and 2004.
Starmer’s official spokesperson said the prime minister “believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use that title.”
He said, “However, the Prime Minister does not have the power to remove him.” Starmer urged his colleagues to work with the government to “modernize the disciplinary procedures” and “allow for the easier removal of those Lords who have brought the House into disrepute.”
Mandelson, 72, who was removed from his ambassadorial post last year by Starmer due to his association with Epstein, told the BBC on Sunday that he had no recollection of the money transfers and did not know whether the documents were authentic.
He also appears in an undated photograph alongside a woman wearing a T-shirt and underwear, who is also wearing a dressing gown, whose face has been obscured by US authorities.
Other documents show that Epstein sent £10,000 to Mandelson’s partner and now husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, in 2009, at a time when Mandelson was serving as a government minister.
The former ambassador was removed from his post in September, having been appointed by Starmer at the end of 2024.
Mandelson apologized in January to Epstein’s victims and for maintaining his friendship with Epstein.
