UK publishes new Mandelson files, raising heat on PM Starmer

The UK government released a vast trove of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, in a move that threatens to cause fresh damage to Keir Starmer’s faltering premiership.More than 1,500 pages of documentation were published on the British government’s website just after 2pm. They include emails, text messages and other exchanges between government ministers, aides and Mandelson in the run-up to his appointment as US envoy, a post he held from February to September 2025.The release resurfaces a saga that has weakened and embarrassed Starmer over the nine months since Bloomberg News exposed the extent of Mandelson’s ties with the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. An earlier tranche of documents in March showed official vetting of Mandelson had warned of “reputational risks” over Mandelson’s Epstein ties.The scale of Monday’s drop – described by the government as one of the biggest-ever parliamentary publications – means its full impact on Starmer will not immediately be known.But the prime minister has already suffered months-long blowback from both opposition parties and his own Labour MPs concerning the judgment he showed in appointing Mandelson, given the former Labour grandee’s history of resigning in disgrace from past government roles and a penchant for political manoeuvring that earned him the nickname “Prince of Darkness”.Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States, walks in London in May. Photo: APThe scandal has already led to the departure of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who quit in February citing his advice to the premier to appoint Mandelson. He was followed out of Downing Street by Tim Allan, who had been director of communications.