A confidential report outlining Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was given to Sir Keir Starmer before the Labour peer was appointed as US ambassador, according to reports.
The prime minister was said to have received the two-page document from the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) last December.
The contents would have left Starmer with no doubt about the risks posed by Mandelson’s association with the notorious sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019, Whitehall sources told The Times.
In a separate report published by the BBC, it was revealed Starmer explicitly asked Mandelson about his links to Epstein before making his decision to appoint him as an ambassador.
The prime minister is said to have asked Mandelson three questions, via an email sent by his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
On Saturday, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, accused Starmer of “lying to the whole country” about how much the prime minister “knew regarding Mandelson’s involvement with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein”.
Mandelson was sacked from his role in Washington DC on Thursday after his close relationship with Epstein was laid bare by Bloomberg News, who gained access to over 100 emails between the pair.
Starmer first defended the Labour peer on Wednesday, but dismissed him on Thursday, with the government claiming the prime minister did not initially know about the emails’ contents.
However, both Downing Street and the Foreign Office are believed to have had sight of the emails on Tuesday.
The Foreign Office issued a statement saying the emails showed a “depth and extent” of a relationship which was “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.”
The information gathered in December’s memo was said to have been pulled together using open sources such as news reports, but nonetheless poses new questions around the prime minister’s judgement.
It is also likely to add pressure to McSweeney, who pushed for Mandelson’s appointment in Washington, despite being familiar with the report’s contents, it is understood.
square LABOUR PARTY ExplainedThe 4 questions No 10 still needs to answer on Mandelson's Epstein links
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Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 officer, told The i Paper that choosing Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to the US was a “terrible security error”.
He said the vetting process would have rigorously investigated any links or red flags with help from UK and US intelligence and law enforcement.
The key purpose behind vetting of ambassadors before they take up key diplomatic posts abroad is to identify any vulnerabilities, including connections, that may expose individuals to potential blackmail.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry wrote to the Foreign secretary with a list of questions about the security vetting process for Mandelson, including if any concerns were ignored by the Government
When asked by The i Paper if Mandelson’s links to Epstein would have come up during his vetting process a UK intelligence source replied: “Without a doubt”.
A US State Department official also confirmed that US officials would have conducted its own extensive checks when Mandelson was nominated for the role by Downing Street.
“If there are concerns it’s raised to the political level to make the decision,” they said.
They added that any such concerns could have been escalated all the way to the White House, adding that any reference to Epstein would have been a “difficult conversation” with Donald Trump.
“It’s possible it was or it’s possible it was left out,” they said. “It would have been a small group to brief POTUS.”
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