UK committee criticises Peter Mandelson’s US ambassador appointment, calling it damaging after links to Jeffrey Epstein sparked controversy
LONDON: The appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US despite close ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was “highly damaging” to the government and harmful to Britain’s international standing, a parliamentary committee said Thursday.
The decision was foisted on the foreign ministry by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office and proved “nothing short of disastrous”, the report said.
The Labour premier appointed party insider Mandelson in December 2024 in the hope he would help build ties with US President Donald Trump.
But in September 2025, Starmer was forced to sack Mandelson when the release of Epstein emails unveiled the depth of their friendship.
Starmer has claimed Mandelson lied about how close he was to the disgraced financier who died in prison in 2019 as he awaited trial for sex crimes.
The report by parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said it was “quite clear that Peter Mandelson was not the choice of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), but one that was essentially forced on them by Number 10 (the PM’s office)”.
“His appointment has been highly damaging for the government, painful and offensive to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and it has diminished our country in the eyes of the world,” it said.
“He was not a fit and proper person for such a role”.
The Mandelson saga has been one of a series of missteps to blight Starmer’s two years in office. He is standing down as the country’s most unpopular prime minister in decades after losing the support of Labour MPs.
Starmer has denied that his office applied pressure to have Mandelson’s appointment approved despite having failed security vetting.
In April, he sacked the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, for not telling him or other ministers that Mandelson had not passed the checks.
The controversy contributed towards dire local election results for the Labour party in Scotland, Wales and England in May, triggering calls for him to resign.
Committee chair Emily Thornberry said the entire appointment procedure had lacked transparency and order.
“It was just being pushed through really fast … any semblance of process seemed to be sort of pushed out of the way in order to push Peter Mandelson to the front of the queue and get him appointed as fast as possible” she told Sky News.
The committee called for it to be given the power to veto political appointments for top diplomatic posts.
