Keir Starmer has fired Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US over his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer, who picked the Labour grandee to be the UK’s representative in Washington, made the decision after emails showed the peer sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.

The Foreign Office said the emails showed “the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister had “failed yet another key test of leadership” by not sacking Mandelson earlier, while Sir Ed Davey of the Lib Dems said Starmer should come before MPs and explain why he was appointed in the first place.

Why has Peter Mandelson been sacked?

While Mandelson’s association with Epstein has been known about for some time, new revelations earlier this week made his position untenable.

On Monday night, senior Democrats in the US released images of Epstein’s ’50th birthday book’ from 2003, contained messages from former numerous acquaintances and friends. These included a series of bizarre messages in which Mandelson described the financier as his “best pal”.

It reads: “Once upon a time, an intelligent, sharp-witted man they call ‘mysterious’ parachuted into my life … you would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up … And often, no sooner were you used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone again … Leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead … Or just some dogs to keep you company (he wasn’t always so keen on them) … But then he would parachute back in … Very occasionally, taking you by surprise in some far off places … Or in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum) … but wherever he is in the world he remains my best pal.”

Mandelson, who has strongly denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, subsequently described the words he used in his birthday message as “very embarrassing to see and read”.

Starmer had backed Mandelson during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, 11 September, saying he had “full confidence” in him. But Bloomberg and The Sun published emails later that day which showed Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein continued after his crimes had been revealed.

What did Mandelson say about Jeffrey Epstein?

Mandelson wrote emails to Epstein expressing support for him, despite the financier having pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor and being sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008.

He is reported to have written to Epstein that “your friends stay with you and love you”, and that he should “fight for early release” shortly before his prison sentence. The day before Epstein began his sentence, Mandelson is reported to have told him: “I think the world of you.”

According to an internal report by the bank JP Morgan, Mandelson stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment while the paedophile was serving his sentence.

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs that this information had not been known when Lord Mandelson was picked to be the ambassador.

Doughty told MPs: “In particular, Lord Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.

“And in light of that, and mindful, as we all are, of the victims of Epstein’s appalling crimes, he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”

Who is Peter Mandelson?

Mandelson was a key figure in Labour’s revival in the 1990s, when the party swept back into power under Tony Blair after more than a decade in opposition.

He wielded great influence behind the scenes as a trusted adviser to Blair, leading to him being known as the “Prince of Darkness”.

But his political career has been dogged by controversy, having twice been forced to resign as a minister.

He quit as trade secretary in 1998 after it emerged he had received a £373,000 home loan from the paymaster general.

Mandelson came back as Northern Ireland secretary in 1999, but he was forced to resign again in 2001.

He was accused of helping one of the Indian billionaire Hinduja brothers obtain a British passport in return for a £1m donation to the Millennium Dome.

An inquiry cleared him of impropriety, but his career at Westminster appeared finished and he went off to Brussels to become a European commissioner.

However, he made a shock return to British politics in 2008 when then-PM Gordon Brown made him business secretary. He relinquished the role in 2010 when Labour lost that year’s general election.

Mandelson was named Starmer’s ambassador to the US in December 2024, ahead of the start of Donald Trump’s second term.

What was Epstein accused of?

Epstein was an American financier who became influential in New York and wider high society in the early 2000s.

He cultivated an elite social circle and often flew high-profile people to his Caribbean private island.

However, Epstein had a dark side unknown to the wider world.

Over a period of years, he groomed many women and children that he and his associates sexually abused.

Epstein was initially arrested in 2005 after a parent accused him of sexually abusing their 14-year-old daughter.

In 2008 under a non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of solicitation of prostitution involving a minor and another similar prostitution charge.

That allowed him to avoid federal prosecution and a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work-release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.

The plea deal was controversial at the time, with even the judge of the trial and the head of Palm Beach police criticising its leniency.

In 2019 federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein with sex trafficking and conspiracy after investigative reporting by The Miami Herald stirred outrage over the 2008 plea bargain.

They accused him of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.

At the time of Epstein’s arrest, prosecutors said they found a trove of pictures of nude and semi-nude young women and girls at his Manhattan mansion. A conviction could have put him in prison for 45 years.

However, he never stood trial after he was found dead in his cell in August 2019 aged 66.

His death sparked an outcry across the world and fuelled conspiracy theories.