Sir Keir Starmer backed Lord Mandelson in the House of Commons despite the Government already being aware of emails between him and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, it emerged last night.
The Foreign Office was sent details of the exchanges early on Tuesday before passing them on to Downing Street, according to The Times.
Lord Mandelson was then backed by Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday before he was dramatically sacked on Thursday as Britain’s ambassador to the US over emails revealing the peer offered support to Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences.
There are fears that Lord Mandelson, who believes he was unfairly sacked, could be out for political revenge. It is believed that because the peer refused to resign, he could receive a substantial taxpayer-funded payout. He is still on the Government payroll and will be paid until a settlement is reached.
It comes as Labour MPs angrily rounded on Sir Keir and his most senior adviser last night amid a fractious blame game over Lord Mandelson’s exit.
Backbenchers said the PM was ‘not up to the job’, while others said his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would ‘have to go’ after another disastrous week for the Government.
But MPs and ministers are furious Sir Keir picked the New Labour architect for the post in the first place, with several pointing the finger over who is to blame for the poor judgment followed by the delay in getting rid of him.
Mr McSweeney, the PM’s chief adviser, is said to have championed Lord Mandelson’s appointment and sought to save the peer even after the email revelations – a claim disputed by senior No 10 figures.
The creepy holiday snap that triggered his downfall: Lord Mandelson in a fluffy white dressing gown enjoying a chat with ‘best pal’ Epstein
Happier times: Sir Keir Starmer with his ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson before he sacked him
Last night MPs were calling for him to be sacked – while others questioned how long Sir Keir could survive in office after yet another humiliating blunder. One backbencher, who is close to Mr McSweeney, told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s pretty clear that Morgan is going to have to go now – and he should go because it is such an appalling decision that he clearly pushed through.
‘Keir ultimately does make the decisions, but you still want to ensure that he is surrounded by good people and you have to seriously question Morgan’s judgment on this.’
The MP described the mood in the party as ‘febrile’, and warned that rebellions would become more common if No 10 did not up its game.
‘This is our worst moment since getting elected and the most difficult moment in Keir’s leadership – it has been incredibly damaging,’ they added. Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, became the first backbencher to call publicly for Sir Keir to go as he accused him of not being ‘up to the job’.
He told the BBC’s The Week In Westminster programme that the PM had ‘lost control within the first year’, and warned: ‘We don’t have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think just doesn’t seem up to the job.’
Mr Lewis added that there was ‘a very, very dangerous atmosphere in the PLP [parliamentary Labour Party]’ following a ‘deeply unpopular’ Cabinet reshuffle.
His comments came as a Labour minister told the Daily Mail Sir Keir looked ‘weak’ but warned: ‘If Keir doesn’t stand by Morgan, Keir won’t last very long. The buck obviously stops in No 10 with the PM, and the pattern we’ve learned about Keir Starmer is that people around him get felled by his own limits one by one.
‘And Morgan is essentially the last man standing between the baying masses and him, and I think he knows that without Morgan they would come for him.’
Mandelson with his now husband enjoying a boat ride together as guests of Epstein at his private island in 2002
Mandelson’s message in the ‘birthday book’ compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell said Epstein was ‘my best pal!’
They said Sir Keir needed to ‘quickly show that he has strength and leadership and courage, because time is running out’.
Lord Mandelson’s departure marked the second time in less than a week that Sir Keir has defended a senior figure only for them to be forced out over a scandal after Angela Rayner’s resignation. It caps a disastrous start to ‘Phase Two’ of the Government.
And it comes just days before Donald Trump is due in the UK for a State visit, which could still be overshadowed by the furore over Lord Mandelson’s departure. Allies of the peer told The Times yesterday that he had admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years.
Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein was known prior to his appointment, but emails leaked to Bloomberg revealed details of their communication after the financier’s crimes had emerged. The messages included passages in which the peer had told Epstein to ‘fight for early release’ shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein ‘I think the world of you’ the day before he began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister has confidence in his top team and they are getting on with the important work of this Government.’
One source, however, suggested that the reports about Mr McSweeney’s involvement was ‘Sue Gray’s revenge’ after he ‘drove her out’ of Downing Street.
Baroness Gray, the PM’s controversial former chief of staff, never considered Lord Mandelson for the job, it was suggested. He ‘wasn’t even on the candidate list’ under her watch, the source said.
Lord Mandelson, who was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer as Britain’s Ambassador to the US, is pictured here with Donald Trump in the Oval Office in May 2025
Others in Labour also pointed the finger at Sir Keir, suggesting that he has given Mr McSweeney too much responsibility.
One said: ‘Morgan does make these decisions, but the PM trusts him to make all these decisions. He just completely outsources all of his thinking: he did it with Rachel [Reeves] on the economy and he does it with Morgan on day-to-day judgment.’
Labour grandee Lord Blunkett suggested Sir Keir should listen to more experienced advisers and ‘seasoned politicians’. He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘All I would say to Keir is: politics is a rough ride and being in government is much more difficult… than being in Opposition.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the Prime Minister was ‘in office, but not in power’ and ‘should never have appointed’ Lord Mandelson. She added: ‘What this is showing is that he [Starmer] had very bad judgment and he was only forced into sacking Peter Mandelson because I raised those questions at Prime Minister’s Questions and a lot of his backbenchers heard how bad it was and put pressure on him… All of that is Keir Starmer’s fault, not anyone else’s.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage suggested the PM ‘ignored the warnings’.
Speaking at a press conference in Caerphilly, Mr Farage said: ‘You sort of begin to get the feeling that the PM ignored the warnings, carried on without really having much support in his own party, and then it took him quite a long time to actually remove Lord Mandelson.’
Speaking from the Ukraine capital Kyiv where she is on her first overseas visit in her new role, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the decision to sack Lord Mandelson, which she was part of, was ‘rightly taken’.
