UK ambassador to US in the spotlight over his links to 'best pal'
Epstein
[September 11, 2025]
By PAN PYLAS
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday that he
has “confidence” in the country's ambassador to the United States, who
faces mounting criticism of his links to the convicted pedophile Jeffrey
Epstein.
Starmer's defense of Peter Mandelson came after Democrats on the House
Oversight Committee released a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for
Epstein, who at the time was a wealthy and well-connected financier. In
that album, Mandelson — in a handwritten note — called Epstein “my best
pal.”
Other alleged contributors to the album that was compiled by British
convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell were President Donald Trump,
former President Bill Clinton and attorney Alan Dershowitz in a
“friends” section, and included other letters with sexually provocative
language.
Mandelson, who took on the prestigious diplomatic role earlier this year
in the wake of the Labour Party's election victory in July 2024, has
admitted knowing Epstein well and told The Sun newspaper that the
comments he wrote were “very embarrassing to see and to read.”
Insisting that he has a “tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy"
for Epstein's victims, Mandelson said his comments were written before
Epstein was indicted and that he did not have a business relationship
with him.
Epstein took his own life in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial
on sex-trafficking charges, more than a decade after his conviction for
soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“I never saw any evidence of criminal activity,” he said. “Perhaps it’s
because I’m a gay man, perhaps when I knew him, perhaps when I was
associated with him those years ago, as I did with my then partner and
now husband, we never, ever saw any evidence or sign of this activity,
which has since come to light."
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The revelations about Mandelson's links with Epstein prompted Kemi
Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, to ask
Starmer whether the position of the U.S. ambassador was "tenable."
Starmer said Mandelson, 71, has “repeatedly expressed his deep
regret” for his association with Epstein.
“I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in
the U.K.-U.S. relationship," he said.
A skilled political operator, Mandelson is no stranger to
controversy, having twice resigned from former Prime Minister Tony
Blair's government in 1998 and 2001. He subsequently became a
European Commissioner for trade, before returning to frontline
British politics in 2008 to serve under Blair's successor, Gordon
Brown.
Starmer considers Mandelson's trade expertise as vital in helping to
limit the scale of tariffs imposed on the import of British goods
into the U.S.
Starmer’s office insisted that all due process was followed in
appointing Mandelson. Spokesman Dave Pares said the ambassador had
gone through “extensive vetting and background checks."
For a prime minister who has had a bruising week after the
resignation of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, over a tax
dispute, the Mandelson distraction is unwelcome.
Mandelson has indicated that further embarrassing revelations are
likely to emerge in the coming weeks.
“I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic,
correspondence, exchanges between us, absolutely," he said.
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