Before Sir Keir Starmer became US ambassador, he was told that Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was a “reputational risk.” The government has disclosed papers that show that the prime minister was told that the two of them were still together after the financier was found guilty of getting an underage female in 2008.
Darren Jones, the PM’s chief secretary, said that the due diligence procedure “fell short” and that the government has already taken steps to fix “weaknesses in the system.” The files also show that Mandelson looked into the potential of getting more than £500,000 as a severance package after he was fired, however the BBC understands that he disagrees with this claim.
The BBC knows that Lord Mandelson said he was quick to agree to the amount the Foreign Office eventually paid him and made it clear that he did not want to take his case to an employment tribunal. If there had been any questions about whether he was lying, he would not have been able to get any money.
Last September, Lord Mandelson was fired as the UK’s ambassador to the US as new information came to light about how close he was to Epstein. The 147-page files are the first set of documents to be made public about his appointment. More documents will be released in the future, but the Metropolitan Police has asked that some be held back so they don’t interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation into Lord Mandelson.
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