{"id":2578662,"date":"2026-03-11T14:27:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/starmer-was-warned-about-reputational-risk-of-mandelsons-ties-to-epstein\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:30:33","slug":"starmer-was-warned-about-reputational-risk-of-mandelsons-ties-to-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/starmer-was-warned-about-reputational-risk-of-mandelsons-ties-to-epstein\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer was warned about \u2018reputational risk\u2019 of Mandelson\u2019s ties to Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstarmer-was-warned-about-reputational-risk-of-mandelsons-ties-to-epstein%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2578662&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Documents released by the British government reveal that Prime minister Keir Starmer was warned about reputational risks tied to Peter Mandelson\u2019s close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before Mandelson was appointed ambassador to Washington.The vetting materials include a 2019 JPMorgan report noting Epstein\u2019s ties to Mandelson and to Prince Andrew, signaling potential reputational concerns for Starmer\u2019s administration. The files show that Mandelson was dismissed as ambassador on September 11 after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/targeting-felon-votes-with-bidenbucks-democrats-court-the-criminal-caucus\/\" title=\"Attracting Felon Votes: Democrats&#039; Outreach with &#039;Bidenbucks\">leaked emails disclosed<\/a> a deeper connection to Epstein than Starmer had known,and national security adviser Jonathan Powell warned the appointment had been rushed due to concerns about Mandelson\u2019s reputation. In the aftermath,Mandelson sought about $733,000 in severance,but the government settled for roughly $100,000 to avoid a drawn-out legal dispute; lawmakers criticized the payout as inappropriate. Additional documents reference Tony Blair\u2019s 2002 meeting with Epstein, facilitated by Mandelson, and an email in which Mandelson described Epstein\u2019s influence in global markets. Some Mandelson-related files remain unreleased due to an ongoing police examination, while the broader political response includes criticism from opposition figures and ongoing scrutiny of Starmer\u2019s decisions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Starmer was warned about &lsquo;reputational risk&rsquo; of Peter Mandelson&rsquo;s Epstein ties, files show<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2520989\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4480903\/keir-starmer-defends-waffling-iran-trump-special-relationship\/\">British Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> was made aware of disgraced former ambassador <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4467909\/former-uk-ambassador-peter-mandelson-arrested-alleged-misconduct-jeffrey-epstein\/\">Peter Mandelson&rsquo;s <\/a>&ldquo;particularly close relationship&rdquo; with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein prior to his appointment in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Documents and emails pertaining to Mandelson&rsquo;s appointment to the position were released by the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-kingdom\/\">British government<\/a> on Wednesday evening, following Starmer&rsquo;s appearance at Parliament for Prime Minister&rsquo;s Questions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4487941\/iranian-drones-strike-oman-oil-depot-despite-countries-friendly-relations\/\">Iranian drones strike Oman oil depot despite countries&#8217; friendly relations<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4485040\/visualizing-us-israeli-war-iran-maps-charts\/\">SEE IT: Visualizing the US and Israel&#8217;s war with Iran<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4487796\/three-cargo-ships-damaged-strait-of-hormuz\/\">Three cargo ships damaged by projectiles in Strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>In the advice given to Starmer in the vetting process, it was noted that a JPMorgan report from 2019 found convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appeared to &ldquo;maintain a particularly close relationship with <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4484898\/carney-calls-for-former-prince-andrew-removed-from-line-succession\/\">Prince Andrew the Duke of York<\/a> and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Peter Mandelson leaves his home in north London on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Jeff Moore\/PA via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was business minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government,&rdquo; the December 2024 document reads. &ldquo;Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein&rsquo;s house while he was in jail in June 2009.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Advice given to the prime minister conveyed that these ties to Epstein presented a &ldquo;general reputational risk,&rdquo; alongside similar reputational risks posed by his &ldquo;previous departures from the New Labour Government, both relating to financial matters.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister has previously characterized himself as largely unaware of how close Mandelson was to Epstein, saying the Labour grandee &ldquo;portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A letter in the files notes a meeting in September 2025, following the initial revelations that Mandelson was <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jeffrey-epstein\/\">closer to Epstein<\/a> than previously known, in which Starmer expressed concern that the leaked emails &ldquo;revealed a depth and extent of a relationship with Epstein which [the prime minister] had not been aware of previously when he made the decision to appoint Mandelson.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, Starmer &ldquo;proposed to ask Mandelson to resign.&rdquo; Mandelson was dismissed as ambassador on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n<p>Following the dismissal, national security adviser Jonathan Powell is documented as telling investigators that he felt Mandelson&rsquo;s appointment was &ldquo;weirdly rushed&rdquo; due to &ldquo;concerns&rdquo; about the ambassador&rsquo;s &ldquo;reputation.&rdquo; Powell raised those concerns to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4447701\/epstein-files-implode-british-politics-peter-mandelson-prince-andrew\/\">Morgan McSweeney<\/a>, the former chief of staff to Starmer who is believed to have pushed for Mandelson&rsquo;s appointment and left 10 Downing Street earlier this year amid fallout for his role in the debacle.<\/p>\n<p>According to the documents, Mandelson demanded a severance payment of about $733,000 after his firing &mdash; roughly the salary he would have made as ambassador over the course of a four-year term in the position.<\/p>\n<p>The British government eventually whittled him down to about a $100,000 settlement &mdash; infuriating critics who rebuked the idea of any amount of money being given to the disgraced ambassador.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones delivered a statement in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/british-parliament\/\">Parliament<\/a> immediately following the release of the Mandelson files, in which he attempted to defend the payout as the lesser of two evils.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Peter Mandelson initially requested a sum that was substantially larger than the final payment, not just two or even three times, but more than six times the final amount,&rdquo; Jones told members of Parliament, explaining that in light of having &ldquo;lost the&nbsp;confidence of the prime minister,&rdquo; the British government &ldquo;obviously found that to be inappropriate and unacceptable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers&rsquo; Questions session in Parliament in London on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Frank Augstein)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;The settlement that was agreed was to avoid even higher further costs involving a drawn-out legal claim at the employment tribunal, given Peter Mandelson&rsquo;s employment as a civil servant rather than a minister, the House will know that ministers can be dismissed without recourse to the Employment Tribunal,&rdquo; Jones argued.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Burghart, shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, spoke against Starmer amid Jones&rsquo;s appearance in Parliament, saying &ldquo;the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scottish-tory-leader-bojo-must-go-if-he-misled-parliament-no-evidence-vax-passports-work\/\" title=\"Scottish Tory Leader: BoJo Must Go If He Misled ..., No Evidence Vax Passports Work\">prime minister knew<\/a> all he needed to know&rdquo; before hiring Mandelson for the job and therefore is at fault.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was on him,&rdquo; Burghart said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s on him now. He let his party down, he let his country down, and I very much doubt that either will trust again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Mandelson&rsquo;s attorney, in a statement following his arrest due to concerns that he was going to flee the country, said that &ldquo;Peter Mandelson&rsquo;s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Large portions of the Mandelson files have not yet been released at the request of the Metropolitan Police, who cited the ongoing investigation into the former ambassador.<\/p>\n<p>Those released do offer a glimpse into former Prime Minister <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2025\/oct\/11\/tony-blair-met-jeffrey-epstein-in-no-10-on-advice-of-peter-mandelson-documents-reveal\">Tony Blair&rsquo;s meeting with Epstein<\/a> in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Cabinet Office holds official records that are likely to be released by the National Archives early next year, which relate to a Tony Blair meeting with Epstein that was facilitated by Mandelson,&rdquo; documents from the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >newly released files read<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4485056\/conservatives-fight-gop-squeezed-populist-right\/\">UK CONSERVATIVES FIGHT FOR GOP TIES WHILE SQUEEZED BY THE POPULIST RIGHT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mandelson sent an email to Blair&rsquo;s chief of staff in 2002 stating, &ldquo;I mentioned to TB that Jeffrey is in London next week and he said he would like to meet him.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He is safe (whatever that means) and [former U.S. President Bill] Clinton is now doing a lot of traveling with him,&rdquo; Mandelson wrote, calling Epstein &ldquo;someone who has his finger on the pulse of many worldwide markets and currencies&rdquo; and who is &ldquo;young and vibrant.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starmer warned of Mandelson-Epstein ties&#8217; risk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2578663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26070359127032.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[9006,19512,72776,75573,34755],"class_list":["post-2578662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-epstein","tag-labour","tag-mandelson","tag-reputational-risk","tag-starmer"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26070359127032.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2578662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578666,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2578662\/revisions\/2578666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2578663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2578662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2578662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2578662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}