WASHINGTON DC – Peter Mandelson’s arrest over his connections to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has reignited criticism over Sir Keir Starmer’s judgement, as US insiders say the former ambassador was far from the “Trump whisperer” some have made him out to be.
The release of the latest Epstein files have thrown up new and serious allegations against the former Labour minister, who is accused of passing information to the paedophile when he was business secretary.
The Prime Minister’s appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the US in December 2024, despite his known friendship with the convicted paedophile financier, was a risk tacitly justified because of his strong relationship with the White House and high-level US connections that could benefit UK interests.
But as the scandal deepened this week, one senior Capitol Hill foreign policy staffer admitted to The i Paper: “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you I knew who he was before this.”
Mandelson’s appointment raised questions at the time, since it was known that the then-Labour peer had maintained contact with Epstein even after his conviction for sexual abuse – although No 10 has argued that the “depth and extent” of their friendship was not known until the release of documents last September that led to Mandelson’s firing.
Mandelson was reportedly asked about his association with Epstein as part of the Cabinet Office vetting process, and it was decided that his strengths made it worth the risk.
Even so, with Donald Trump returning for his second presidential term in January 2025, members of the UK right attempted to block Mandelson’s appointment by persuading the White House to take the unusual step of formally refusing to accept the Labour peer’s credentials.
Trump allies claimed that he was prepared to veto Mandelson’s appointment in part because of his links to China. And while the President ultimately did not do so, the “Prince of Darkness” arrived in Washington bearing the scars of his near-death experience.
Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photo provided by the US Justice Department in December 2025 (Photo: Handout/US Department of Justice/AFP via Getty Images)A former senior administration official noted: “I think the President found him charming, as evidenced by their interactions, but I never heard about the guy having any real juice.”
Raheem Kassam, a confidante of Nigel Farage and a Maga media personality in the US, played a vocal part in the push to block Mandelson, which included a diverse array of TrumpWorld figures, from Steve Bannon allies like himself to more establishment-tinged figures like Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 chief strategist who described Mandelson as “an absolute moron”.
Kassam, the former London editor for US far-right news website Breitbart, told The i Paper that the imbroglio was deeply damaging to Mandelson’s efforts to make himself a key figure in Washington society: “He really didn’t get much traction.”
He also noted that whenever the drama was referenced in conversations at embassy events, the former Labour spin doctor would both “be very diplomatic in refusing to address the topic but also try to extricate himself from conversation very quickly… He was both at the same time very arrogant and very skittish about it”.
This left one of the key figures in New Labour striving to appear depoliticised.
Kassam said of Mandelson’s brief stint in Washington: “Inevitably when you get sent to town as a major political figure with interesting political stories and don’t provide any of that, people get bored pretty quickly. People thought they’d get more out of him.”
Your next read
square DONALD TRUMP AnalysisTrump’s Iran gamble has begun – and he looks increasingly desperate
square IRANIran’s regime is collapsing – that should terrify the West
square WORLD AnalysisTrump’s embrace of thug Tommy Robinson exposes the biggest lie he’s told America
square US POLITICS AnalysisBill Clinton faced a day of reckoning over Epstein links – Trump is next
Now, the release of the latest Epstein files have thrown up serious allegations against the former Labour minister, who is accused of passing information to Epstein when he was business secretary.
Even before this, it was clear that his star was on the wane.
Trump is notoriously fickle, and he was unlikely to be riveted for long by Mandelson’s tales of the decades of intrigues between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. For the Trump administration, the British ambassador was well received but left few traces.
From the UK perspective, it seems clear that any gamble on Mandelson in the hope of cementing a “special relationship” was a waste of time.
Hence then, the article about no real juice how mandelson was far from a trump whisperer was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘No real juice’: How Mandelson was far from a Trump whisperer )
Also on site :