The scale of Keir Starmer’s Mandelson problem became clear on Wednesday night when documents released to Parliament confirmed he had been warned in writing that appointing the disgraced peer posed a “reputational risk” — and then paid him £75,000 to leave, nearly twice what his contract required.
Mandelson walked away with £40,330 in contractual notice pay plus a further £34,670 described as a “special severance payment” — a top-up that Whitehall sources said was agreed to head off a ruinous employment tribunal fight, according to reports. His lawyers had allegedly been seeking £547,000, on the basis that his dismissal had “permanently damaged his employability.” The letter authorising the package was signed by Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Olly Robbins, with both Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and No 10 informed before the deal was struck, the Pexress understands.
The pay-off was just one of several damaging details reportedly buried in 147 pages of documents the Government had been ordered by MPs to hand over – showing a Prime Minister who received explicit written warnings about Mandelson’s Epstein ties – and went ahead anyway.
What the documents revealed
According to the Daily Mail, a Cabinet Office due diligence note told Starmer that Mandelson’s friendship with the paedophile financier had outlasted Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, persisting “across 2009-2011, beginning when he was business minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government.” The same document flagged newspaper reports that Mandelson had been a guest at Epstein’s New York mansion while Epstein was behind bars in 2009, states the report.
A separate note to the PM spelled out the political exposure he was taking on. “If anything goes wrong, you could be more exposed as the individual is more connected to you personally,” officials allegedly wrote. The Cabinet Office concluded the appointment would represent a “general reputational risk” to the Government.
Starmer appointed him regardless — a man who had been driven from Cabinet in disgrace on two separate occasions. More remarkably, Mandelson was given access to top-secret documents before his security vetting had been signed off. One Whitehall insider pointed the finger at Sir Olly Robbins for that decision too.
‘Beggars belief’
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart dismissed Starmer’s defence that he had been deceived. “The Prime Minister claims that he was lied to; he was not lied to by this due diligence document. It may be that Mandelson denied those claims, and if so, perhaps the Prime Minister was lied to, but by an inveterate liar who had been fired twice before. We are supposed to believe that the Prime Minister, who was once the chief prosecutor in this country, could not see through this nonsense. It beggars belief,” the Daily Mail reported him as saying.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used the revelations to call on Labour MPs to move against their own leader. “There are not enough Conservative MPs to remove the Prime Minister — he won a landslide. Labour MPs now need to consider their conscience and their position and ask if this man is fit to run our country,” she reportedly said. On whether Starmer should quit, she told Sky News: “We can’t make him resign. The only people who can fix this are Labour backbenchers.”
Starmer’s defence
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones insisted Starmer had faced up to his error. “He has acknowledged that it was a mistake and has apologised, not least for believing Peter Mandelson’s lies,” Jones told MPs, adding that the due diligence process had “fallen short of what is required.” He urged Mandelson to give the money to charity, saying the sum had been the cheaper option compared to a drawn-out legal battle.
The documents allegedly indicate that Starmer’s then chief of staff Morgan McSweeney — a close friend of Mandelson and the driving force behind his appointment — put three follow-up questions to the peer about his Epstein ties. Starmer has said Mandelson lied in response. Those answers remain withheld at the request of the Metropolitan Police, which is investigating Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
Mandelson denies any wrongdoing. The Express approached Downing Street for comment from the Prime Minister.
