Archiv: Peter Mandelson


21.04.2026 - 22:18 [ Spectator.com ]

When Mandelson could bring down Starmer

(March 14, 2026)

As my big piece on Starmer last month revealed, even after Mandelson was appointed, Starmer never quizzed him about how to deal with Trump. All this exposes a Prime Minister with Olympic levels of detachment. It has been known for a while that he has little interest in politics but those who have worked with him have been genuinely surprised at his lack of interest in the detail of governing.

(…)

The book also reveals that the decision to sack Mandelson was taken by McSweeney, not Starmer. On the day the PM defended Mandelson in the Commons, McSweeney was in a secure basement conference room without his phone when two of Starmer’s closest aides – Paul Ovenden and Stuart Ingham – came to find him. Ingham told him: ‘We just can’t answer these questions.’

McSweeney’s response – ‘It’s unsustainable’ – was the moment the decision was effectively made.

21.04.2026 - 21:53 [ theNational.scot ]

No 10 bid for SECOND paedo-linked Labour ally to get ambassador role

He was later pushed on who had ordered him to look into getting Doyle a position, and who had ordered him not to tell the foreign secretary (which at the time was David Lammy).

Robbins said: “I don‘t know what the origin of the suggestion was, and I don‘t know who exactly was behind it or how serious it was.

“It was serious enough for the No 10 private office to ring up the head of the diplomatic service and ask for a forward look of available head of mission jobs, and that‘s the point at which I thought that I needed to lay down some markers.”

21.04.2026 - 21:30 [ theGuardian.com ]

Olly Robbins: I was asked to find job for Starmer aide and not tell David Lammy

Testifying to MPs at parliament’s foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday, Olly Robbins said he had several conversations with No 10 about finding a role for Matthew Doyle, who was later suspended as a Labour peer after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.

Robbins said he had been asked not to mention the idea to David Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time.

Robbins described the conversations as part of more general pressure from people at the top of the government to place senior political figures in senior diplomatic posts.

21.04.2026 - 15:27 [ theGuardian.com ]

Olly Robbins says he faced ‘constant pressure’ to get Mandelson in post

Asked who in No 10 had applied pressure, he said it was mainly the prime minister’s private office, which is staffed by civil servants. But he added: “I think that the private office would only have been [putting on] this pressure themselves if they were under pressure.”

21.04.2026 - 14:54 [ New York Times ]

Fired U.K. Official Describes ‘Pressure’ From Starmer’s Office for Envoy’s Appointment

The former top civil servant in Britain’s foreign office, who was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week, said on Tuesday that Mr. Starmer’s office had a “dismissive attitude” about the security vetting of Peter Mandelson, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein who became ambassador to the United States despite concerns raised during the vetting process.

The former civil servant, Olly Robbins, testified in Parliament that he and other officials in charge of deciding whether to grant Mr. Mandelson a high-level security clearance were working in “an atmosphere of pressure” to ensure that nothing got in the way of Mr. Mandelson’s appointment.

17.04.2026 - 20:56 [ theGuardian.com ]

After the latest Mandelson revelations, Starmer needs to get a good lawyer. Wasn’t he supposed to be one?

During the opposition years, his defenders countered that a stolid technocrat was exactly what the country needed. They sold the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service as the polar opposite of Boris Johnson, who was driven from Downing Street in part by Starmer’s own forensic questioning. If only Starmer had lived up to the billing of his detractors, reluctantly conceded by his allies, he wouldn’t be in the hole he finds himself this weekend.

Instead, he now has to rely on a defence that is lawyerly in the worst sense of that word. To have knowingly misled parliament is, in political terms, a capital crime. So the PM has to proceed on two tracks, one for “knowingly” the other for “misled”.

17.04.2026 - 20:38 [ BBC ]

Starmer sacks top Foreign Office official after Mandelson vetting revelations

The BBC understands Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper lost confidence in Sir Olly Robbins and was effectively sacked after a Guardian investigation revealed Mandelson had not been security cleared.

The PM is facing calls to resign amid claims he misled MPs when he told them „full due process“ had been followed.

Senior minister Darren Jones said Sir Keir had not been told of the vetting recommendation until Tuesday this week, had not misled MPs and would not be resigning.

17.04.2026 - 20:21 [ UnioneSarda.it ]

Epstein-Fall, neue hochrangige Rücktritte in England. Starmer unter Druck: „Er sollte zurücktreten.“

(April 16, 2026)

„Es ist unverzeihlich, dass kein Minister, nicht einmal Downing Street, informiert wurde“, kommentierte Premierminister Keir Starmer. Doch Starmer selbst geriet ins Visier der Opposition, die seinen Rücktritt fordert. Der Chef von Downing Street scheint jedoch nicht zurücktreten zu wollen. „Er wird nicht zurücktreten“, versicherte Starmers engster Vertrauter, Darren Jones.

17.04.2026 - 20:13 [ theGuardian.com ]

Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision

(Thu 16 Apr 2026 19.16 CEST)

In September, in a letter co-signed with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, Robbins told MPs that “conducted to the usual standard set for developed vetting.

The Guardian understands that Robbins was told he had to resign after Starmer and Cooper lost confidence in the civil servant.

Mandelson’s failure to secure vetting approval has not previously been publicly revealed, despite intense scrutiny over his appointment and the release by the government of 147 pages of documents supposed to shed light on the case.

28.02.2026 - 01:33 [ The Good Lobby Profs - thegoodlobby.eu ]

Re: Request for an Investigation into the Conduct of Former Commissioner Peter Mandelson During and After his Mandate as EU Trade Commissioner (2004–2008) and Referral to the Independent Ethics Body

(February 25, 2026)

Commissioners are bound by obligations of integrity and discretion during but also beyond the end of their mandate. Article 245 TFEU requires Commissioners to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance of certain appointments or benefits after their term of office. Article 17(3) TEU further provides that Members of the Commission shall be completely independent in the performance of their duties and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or other institution, body, office or entity.

The Code of Conduct for Members of the European Commission explicitly prohibits the use of confidential information obtained during the mandate for any purpose other than the exercise of official duties. There is no evident limitation period that would preclude an institutional inquiry by the Commission itself into whether these obligations were violated. The Commission has both the competence and, we would argue, the duty to investigate under Articles 17 and 245 TFEU, the Code of Conduct, and the Commission’s own institutional mandate to uphold the rule of law.

28.02.2026 - 01:12 [ Alberto Alemanno / X ]

Together with over 60 law professors we asked @vonderleyen to open an investigation on Peter Mandelson’s exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein at the time the former was EU Trade Commissioner.

(February 26, 2026)

As reported by @POLITICOEurope
#playbook Full text of the letter:

28.02.2026 - 01:02 [ TKP.at ]

Rechtsgelehrte fordern Untersuchung der Tätigkeit von Epstein-Freund Mandelson als EU-Kommissar

Während sich die britischen Medien auf Mandelsons spätere Rolle als Kabinettsminister unter dem damaligen Premierminister Gordon Brown (2008–2010) konzentriert haben, fordern die Professoren eine genaue Untersuchung seiner vierjährigen Amtszeit als EU-Handelskommissar. In dieser Funktion leitete er Verhandlungen, darunter die Doha-Entwicklungsrunde, die Verhandlungen über ein Freihandelsabkommen zwischen der EU und Indien (FTA) und Handelsstreitigkeiten zwischen der EU und der ASEAN.

Aus Dokumenten, die vom US-Justizministerium veröffentlicht wurden, geht hervor, dass Mandelsons Verbindungen zu Epstein von 2002 bis 2011 bestanden, also seine gesamte Amtszeit bei der EU-Kommission umfassten.

22.02.2026 - 10:19 [ CNN ]

The Trump team downplayed the Epstein files. Andrew’s arrest and other probes show how rash that was.

(February 19, 2026)

In mid-2025, when the Trump administration suddenly felt compelled to downplay the Jeffrey Epstein files, officials said they didn’t have enough evidence to prompt any additional investigations of third parties.

The memo didn’t just say there wasn’t evidence to charge anyone else, mind you; it said there wasn’t even evidence to investigate “uncharged third parties.”

That broad assertion in an unsigned FBI memo has proved to be a rather rash conclusion — most recently and emphatically by Thursday’s arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, in the UK.

20.02.2026 - 04:31 [ Congressman Ro Khanna ]

Rep. Ro Khanna’s Statement on the Arrest of Former Prince Andrew

Washington, DC — Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17), author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, released the following statement on the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor:

„Even princes are not above the law. Rep. Thomas Massie and I forced the release of an email showing former Prince Andrew allegedly shared state information with Epstein. On February 9th, I called on King Charles to investigate and answer questions. Andrew is being held accountable because of the survivors, like Virginia Giuffre, who bravely spoke up.

“We’ve also seen Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem resign from DP World, the former Norwegian Prime Minister be charged with gross corruption, Peter Mandelson be fired as ambassador and step down from the House of Lords, Kathryn Ruemmler step down from Goldman Sachs, and other examples of accountability around the world. But why isn’t more being done here? We should start with Howard Lutnick resigning,“ said Rep. Ro Khanna.

14.02.2026 - 05:59 [ Boston Herald ]

High-profile resignations and replacements as Epstein case fallout spreads

Apart from the former Prince Andrew, none of them face claims of sexual wrongdoing. They have been toppled for maintaining friendly relationships with Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.

Here’s a look at some of those caught up in the scandal:

10.02.2026 - 18:16 [ BBC ]

Chris Mason: Labour sticks with Starmer for now but this is not over

If Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar‘s desire to dislodge Sir Keir Starmer had had public accomplices, that could have been it.

There was a crucial pivot point on Monday afternoon when things could have gone in one of two ways.

If others had said Sir Keir should go, he might not have got to the end of the day without announcing his departure.

But instead, there was a rallying of support from the cabinet and from various wings of the Labour Party.

10.02.2026 - 08:17 [ Sky News ]

Streeting shares his Mandelson texts with Sky News

The health secretary said he was sharing the messages with Sky News because of an attempt to „smear“ him over the weekend by suggestions he was „close friends“ with Lord Mandelson.

Mr Streeting has long been seen as on leadership manoeuvres and may otherwise be thought to be a potential beneficiary if Sir Keir were to resign as prime minister.

09.02.2026 - 18:46 [ New York Times ]

Starmer’s Communications Chief Quits, Adding to British Leader’s Woes

The director of communications for Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain resigned on Monday, adding to a sense of crisis for the government and growing questions about Mr. Starmer’s leadership.

The communications director, Tim Allan, a veteran political operative who only joined Mr. Starmer’s government about five months ago, quit less than 24 hours after Morgan McSweeney stepped down as the prime minister’s chief of staff over ties between Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender, and Britain’s former ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson.

09.02.2026 - 18:38 [ EastLothianCourier.com ]

Anas Sarwar calls for Keir Starmer to quit as Prime Minister

The Scottish Labour leader made the intervention in a press conference in Glasgow this afternoon as he attacked the „failures“ in Downing Street in the wake of revelations surrounding Peter Mandelson‘s links to Jeffrey Epstein and fears over damage the scandal may do to his party‘s chances at the Holyrood elections in May.

He told reporters his first priority is to Scotland and that he did not want to “sacrifice” the country to a third decade of an SNP government.

09.02.2026 - 18:35 [ theNational.scot ]

Inside Scottish Labour as MPs fear Mandelson impact on Holyrood vote

(February 6, 2026)

Now attention is turning to the ramifications of the scandal in Scotland ahead of the Holyrood election in May.

Anas Sarwar could prove another casualty of the spectacular fallout from the collapse of Lord Mandelson’s reputation.

Lord Mandelson’s continued friendship with Epstein has been public knowledge since the Financial Times reported in 2023 that the peer stayed at the convicted paedophile’s home in Manhattan in 2009, while he was in prison for child sex offences.

08.02.2026 - 17:17 [ Times of India ]

UK PM Keir Starmer’s chief of staff quits over appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite Epstein ties

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned on Sunday after taking responsibility for advising the prime minister to appoint Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the United States, despite Mandelson’s past links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

05.02.2026 - 20:05 [ CNN ]

The Epstein storm could topple a world leader — but it’s not Trump

His premiership hung by a thread Thursday after a revolt by MPs in his Labour Party further damaged a 10 Downing Street operation staggering from crisis to crisis.

Starmer tried to clarify his earlier statement in parliament on Wednesday that he knew about the friendship between former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and Epstein — but still made him ambassador to Washington.

04.02.2026 - 22:18 [ ABC News ]

UK will release files related to Mandelson‘s appointment in more Epstein fallout

The move came after the opposition Conservative Party said it would force a vote in Parliament on Wednesday calling for the release of emails and other messages related to Mandelson’s appointment in 2024. Critics say he should never have been given the job because his relationship with Epstein – though not its extent – was known at the time.

The government has agreed to release the requested information unless it is ”prejudicial to U.K. national security or international relations.” It’s unclear how much material will be released, or when.

02.02.2026 - 19:09 [ Express.co.uk ]

Is this the Prince of Darkness‘s final scandal? We look back at his worst controversies

Last week, the Express reported in detail on how Palantir secured a „record“ £240 million deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in late 2025, forming part of a wider, more extensive, and occasionally undisclosed, £670m+ package of agreements with the UK government. Peter Mandelson played a significant role with Global Counsel, a consultancy that lobbied for Palantir and was was viewed as enabling the firm‘s access to the Starmer government. The tight relationship between the UK government and Palantir attracted fierce scrutiny owing to Palantir‘s connections to Donald Trump (via co-founder Peter Thiel) and its participation in contentious AI-powered military surveillance.

As Mandelson‘s slimy rise and slippery fall have been documented over the years, it seems extraordinary that he could have lasted this long. Let‘s hope this sorry latest scandal relating to Epstein will be the last we hear of the Prince of Darkness

02.02.2026 - 18:34 [ Washington Post ]

Lord Mandelson, ex-ambassador to U.S., resigns from Labour over Epstein

Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States and one of his country’s most influential and controversial political figures of the past three decades, resigned from the Labour Party Sunday night and may face removal from the House of Lords amid renewed scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.

12.03.2019 - 16:21 [ Green-Leaves.org ‏/ Twitter ]

At the heart of the #EU problem with #Brexit is a fundamental misunderstanding that they can stop #UK #Leave if they continue with #worstdealinhistory This misunderstanding is fed by renegade #Labour figures like #Mandelson and #Blair #WTOBrexit is #democratic

09.04.2017 - 14:30 [ theSun.co.uk ]

SCREW EU! Lord Mandelson branded a traitor after slamming PM’s ‘attitude’ and urging EU chiefs to ‘screw’ Britain

Lord Mandelson showed where his true loyalties lie in an astonishing interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit.

The Brexit-bashing peer – a former EU trade commissioner – is in line for a £34,600-a-year pension from Brussels after swearing an oath of loyalty to European institutions.