Ex-US envoy Mandelson slams UK govt's lack of 'verve' in files

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LONDON — Disgraced ex-envoy Peter Mandelson vowed the UK government would "never regret" making him ambassador to the United States, but sharply criticised its leadership, among thousands of documents published Monday relating to his appointment.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been plagued for months by his decision to hand Mandelson the plum diplomatic posting despite knowing of his connections to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On Monday, the government published a vast second tranche of files, including emails and WhatsApp messages, related to Mandelson's nine-month stint in Washington, which ended in September 2025.

In a handwritten note to then-foreign secretary David Lammy in November 2024, Mandelson wrote: "If you were minded to appoint me I would make sure you never regret it".

But in a series of WhatsApp messages in May 2025 to then-cabinet secretary Pat McFadden, Mandelson, a Labour party veteran, lashed out at Starmer and the government.

"Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole," Mandelson wrote on May 2, 2025.

"The problem is the government doesn't give a sense of crusading to turn round and change Britain. That's what I mean by panache, verve," he wrote the next day.

'Beleaguered, bereft'

A first cache of documents released in March revealed Starmer was warned Mandelson posed a "general reputational risk" because of his connection to Epstein, but appointed him anyway.

Starmer sacked Mandelson after revelations about the extent of his friendship with the billionaire financier, who died in prison in New York while facing sex-trafficking charges in 2019.

The controversy contributed towards dire election results for Starmer's embattled Labour administration in Scotland, Wales and England last month, triggering calls from dozens of lawmakers for him to resign.

The prime minister has repeatedly apologised for the appointment, including to the women trafficked by Epstein, but has refused to quit despite three high-profile aides losing their jobs over the controversy.

The three volumes of documents, spanning more than 1,500 pages, showed Mandelson, a former Labour spin doctor and cabinet minister who helped engineer several election wins for ex-prime minister Tony Blair, regularly exchanged messages with senior government ministers.

In one, written a year after Starmer led Labour to a landslide general election victory in July 2024, Mandelson described the prime minister's Downing Street operation as "beleaguered and bereft".

Starmer's official spokesman described Monday's release of documents, which included numerous redactions, including on national security grounds, as an "unprecedented piece of government transparency".

But it only came after members of parliament voted in February to force the government to publish the documents.

'Reputational risk'

The government has said it is withholding some documents on the advice of police, who are investigating Mandelson over alleged misconduct in office more than a decade ago.

Mandelson is accused of leaking sensitive information to Epstein during his time as a government minister. He denies wrongdoing.

The latest files reveal that Mandelson "declined to comply" with a request from the government to hand over messages from his personal phone.

Starmer has claimed that Mandelson lied about how close he was to the disgraced financier.

His former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned for advising the prime minister to make the appointment.

The controversy has also claimed the jobs of Starmer's former chief of communications and the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, whom the prime minister fired for not telling him or other ministers that Mandelson had not passed security checks for the role.

Starmer has been clinging on to power for weeks but has refused to "walk away", with a shadow contest to try to replace him already underway.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is contesting a special election to return to parliament later this month that is widely believed to be a precursor to challenging Starmer for the party leadership.