Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the United States and one of London’s most visible envoys to President Donald J. Trump, is now reportedly under mounting pressure to resign after new disclosures about his long association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, once famed in Britain as a master political operator for former Prime Minister Tony Blair, contributed to a book celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003—years before the financier’s conviction.
Released by Congress this week, the volume contained a photograph of Mandelson in a white bathrobe, laughing with Epstein. In his message, Mandelson called Epstein his “best pal” and wrote: “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.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Mandelson’s note in July.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed his ambassador, even as Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said Mandelson’s position had become untenable.
Fresh scrutiny followed a Sun newspaper report citing an email Mandelson allegedly sent Epstein in June 2008—the same month Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. “I think the world of you and feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” Mandelson wrote, according to the report. He signed off, “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
A British Embassy spokesman in Washington declined immediate comment. Mandelson has repeatedly expressed contrition. In 2023 he told the Journal that he “very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.”
The revelations threaten to overshadow Britain’s efforts to strengthen ties with Washington under Trump.
Mandelson was dispatched to the capital precisely for his reputation as a strategist, and has often spoken warmly of the president. He was seen at Trump’s side in the Oval Office earlier this year as the president outlined terms of a trade deal with the U.K.
Mandelson’s proximity to Epstein has surfaced in other contexts as well. An internal JPMorgan report showed Epstein was in email conversations in 2010 with Mandelson and Jes Staley, then a top JPMorgan executive, about efforts to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake in Sempra Energy.
At the time, the bank was state-owned and Epstein had only recently been released from jail. A British official denied that Mandelson helped Epstein broker the deal.
Mandelson’s long career has been defined by influence punctuated by scandal. Dubbed the “Prince of Darkness” by the British press, he twice resigned from government—first in 1998 over an undeclared loan from a Labour donor, and again in 2001 over allegations of improperly helping an Indian businessman with a passport application, charges he denied.
Later he became European trade commissioner and in 2010 co-founded the lobbying firm Global Counsel.
Now, with his role as ambassador under fire, Mandelson has continued to champion Trump’s political style. In a speech earlier this week, he praised the president’s “ironclad stomach for political risk.” “He will not always get everything right,” Mandelson said, “but with his Sharpie pen and freewheeling Oval Office press sprays he has sounded a deafening wake-up call to the international old guard.”
For Conservatives in Britain, the question remains whether Mandelson’s history with Epstein makes him unfit for one of the country’s most coveted diplomatic posts, even as his party leader rallies to his defense.
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