MPs back release of files on Lord Peter Mandelson appointment as US ambassador

MPs have approved the release of documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as British ambassador to the United States.

It comes after the Prime Minister backed down from his original plans for top civil servant Sir Chris Wormald to decide which documents could not be released on national security grounds or because they could prejudice international relations.

Under pressure from Labour MPs, led by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Sir Keir Starmer accepted the decision could be made by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) instead.

Sir Keir earlier told the Commons he knew about the former business secretary’s ongoing friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him ambassador to the US.

But he said the peer “lied repeatedly” about the extent of the relationship.

Lord Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from his Washington role in September last year over his links with Epstein, who died in 2019.

His continued association with Epstein following a 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor had been widely reported before his return to the political front line, when he was named as ambassador in 2024.

But documents released as part of the US Department of Justice’s Epstein Files raised new concerns in recent days.

The Metropolitan Police have meanwhile told the Government not to release “certain documents” that would “undermine” their investigation into the disgraced peer.