Mandelson would never have been appointed if Starmer knew 'extent of Epstein link'
Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, stood up for the Prime Minister over his handling of the Lord Mandelson scandal, but an increasing number of Labour MPs are criticising him. ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton explains
Prime Minister Keir Starmer would not have appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador if he'd known the depth of his relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a Cabinet minister has said.
It came to light that Lord Mandelson offered his "love" and support for his "best pal" over emails, even after he faced jail for sex offences with a minor.
Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander told ITV News that "had it been known then what has subsequently emerged, Peter Mandelson would not and should not have been appointed to that position.
On Friday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the decision to sack Lord Mandelson was "rightly taken" after the new information came to light.
Speaking during a visit to Kyiv, she said: "New information came to light that was not available at the time of the appointment and that's why the decision was rightly taken and now that it has been taken, we have to focus on really the important work that the government needs to do."
The prime minister, who had told the House of Commons during Wednesday's PMQs he had confidence in the former ambassador before the emails were leaked, now faces questions over what he knew and when about Mandelson's ties to Epstein.
Mr Alexander said he'd read the emails with "incredulity and revulsion" but that Mandelson's sacking reflected Starmer's "evidence based" approach.
Acknowledging Lord Mandelson's past association with Jeffrey Epstein was "a matter of public record", the Scotland Secretary said the PM "recognised [the UK] needed an unconventional ambassador for an unconventional administration".
It was, he said, a "political judgement" made on where the best interests of the country laid with Trump's White House.
There have been calls from the Conservatives to publish the vetting documents to show how much was known about Mandelson's and Epstein's relationship before the former's appointment as ambassador.
This suggestion was rebuffed by Mr Alexander on national security grounds, stressing the "need to protect the integrity of the system.
"You and I don't want to be in the position where the exact character of the security vetting that is undertaken for senior British officials was a matter of public record both to our adversaries and indeed to people who seek to do harm to the United Kingdom."
Downing Street said the Prime Minister had confidence in the vetting system but the process was kept under "constant review".
A No 10 spokesman said "we always keep national security vetting and other procedures under constant review to make sure they retain their position as world-leading."
How did we get here?
The Foreign Office announced on Thursday that "in light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the Foreign Secretary to withdraw him as Ambassador".
"The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment," the statement continued.
"In particular, Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information."
Mandelson had been under mounting pressure in recent days over his close friendship with Epstein, after the publication of a 'birthday book' to the disgraced financier in which Mandelson calls him his "best pal," and the subsequent release of emails of support from Mandelson to Epstein after he was first convicted in 2008.
In a letter thanking staff at the British embassy in Washington, Mandelson described the 213 days he spent in office as "the privilege of [his] life."
He went on to say: "The circumstances surrounding the announcement today are ones which I deeply regret. I continue to feel utterly awful about my association with Epstein twenty years ago and the plight of his victims.
"I have no alternative to accepting the Prime Minister's decision and will leave a position in which I have been so incredibly honoured to serve."
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The ambassador's departure is the second scandal at the top of government in less than a week, after Deputy PM Angela Rayner left government over her failure to pay £40,000 in stamp duty.
Mandelson's sacking also comes a week before Trump's state visit to the UK, in which the ambassador would have played a key role.
ITV News understands the government did not have access to the emails at the time of Mandelson's appointment as ambassador, nor did Mandelson himself, as they were sent from a long-closed email address.
But questions have been raised about why it was the emails that sparked Mandelson's sacking, when it was publicly known that he stayed at Epstein's Manhattan house in 2009 after the financier was convicted of sex crimes.
A government source also suggested the "onus" was on Mandelson to disclose information about his relationship with Epstein during the vetting process.
Downing Street insist the vetting process was "extensive" and that they have full confidence in it.
Pressed for the PM's personal reaction to the emails, his official spokesman said they were "reprehensible."
Asked if Starmer shared the view of two ministers who have said they were disgusted and sickened by the messages, the spokesman said: “I think it’s self-evident that he found the content of these emails reprehensible,” he said.
Downing Street also confirmed that Mandelson's deputy, James Roscoe, will be the interim ambassador and oversee next week's state visit while the process to find a new ambassador begins.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: "There are now serious questions over what Starmer knew and when."
"Mandelson might have gone but, just as with Angela Rayner, Starmer dithered when he needed to be decisive."Time and again he puts party above country. He has no backbone and no convictions."
The emails, first reported by the Sun and released in detail by Bloomberg, showed in June 2008, whilst Epstein was facing charges for soliciting a minor, Lord Mandelson wrote: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
Further messages show the British ambassador urged Epstein to "fight for early release" after accepting a sentence of 18 months in a plea deal with Florida prosecutors.
In an interview with the Sun's Harry Cole before the emails were released, Mandelson said the "embarrassing" revelations about his relationship with Epstein went further than the correspondence revealed in the disgraced financier's 'birthday book'.
Responding to Mandelson's departure, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “The prime minister now needs to appoint an ambassador who will stand up to Trump, not cosy up to him and his cronies.
“He also needs to come before Parliament and explain why Lord Mandelson was appointed in the first place, given everything the government knew then.
"This government seems to be lurching from one crisis to another. It desperately needs to get a grip on fixing the economy and public services so badly damaged by the Conservatives."
Mandelson admitted on Wednesday he remained friends with Epstein, even after the American's first indictment for soliciting underage sex.
"I regret very much that I fell for his lies; I fell for and accepted assurances that he had given me about his indictment, his original criminal case in Florida, like very many people, I took at face value what he said," Mandelson admitted.
Mandelson told The Sun's 'Harry Cole Saves the West' YouTube channel he regrets "very, very deeply indeed, carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done".
It emerged on Monday that Mandelson allegedly described Epstein as his "best pal" in a note to him as part of a so-called 'birthday book' given to him in 2003.
The book, which included letters alleged to be from a series of famous names including US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, was released on Monday night by US Democrats, along with several other documents in the long-running dispute over Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and associates.
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