Starmer believes Mandelson 'should not be member of Lords'

Sir Keir Starmer believes Lord Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords, or use his title, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister has ordered an "urgent" investigation into Lord Mandelson's contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while the peer was a government minister.

The review comes after another tranche of documents were released, showing the former Labour minister's close relationship with Epstein.

Among those documents, email exchanges appear to show Lord Mandelson, when business secretary in 2009, forwarded internal government information sent to then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on to Epstein.

Lord Mandelson has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since taking up his position as US ambassador in December 2024, a position he was sacked from in September last year, when details of his friendship with Epstein were made public.

He has also resigned his Labour Party membership after four decades at the centre of power, but the latest revelations now seem certain to signal the end of his career in public life.

The latest review will be carried out by the Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald and will look at "all available information", No10 said.

But Downing Street said the prime minister did not have the power to directly remove Lord Mandelson's title.

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "The prime minister believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title.

"However, the prime minister does not have the power to remove it."

Government officials believe stripping Lord Mandelson of his title through introducing legislation, which has not been done for 100 years, would be complicated and lengthy.

Instead, the prime minister believes modernising disciplinary procedures to make it easier to remove disgraced peers via a Lords' Conduct Committee would be quicker and simpler.

Sir Keir's spokesperson added that if Lord Mandelson has information then he should be prepared to testify in front of Congress.

"The prime minister has always said that anyone who has got information should be prepared to share that information," the Downing Street spokesman said.

"You cannot be victim centred if you are not prepared to do that."

Emails released in the Epstein files suggest that Lord Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Jeffrey Epstein when he was Gordon Brown's business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister.

In June 2009, Brown's policy adviser Nick Butler wrote an email to the prime minister about the UK's struggling economy, in which he advocated "releasing value from the very substantial asset base which the government holds" and suggesting the government came up with an "asset sales plan".

Butler copied in several people, including Peter Mandelson, and newly released emails indicate that Mandelson then forwarded that email on to Epstein, with the message: "Interesting note that's gone to the PM".

Epstein then replied asking: "what salable [sic] assets?"

A further internal government email, which Mandelson was copied into, was also forwarded to Epstein in August 2009, but it is not clear who forwarded that email to the disgraced financier.

In the August 2009 email, then-government Business Minister Shriti Vadera discussed how to improve financial markets in the wake of the crash and suggested providing funds to struggling companies in exchange for a share of ownership.

Lord Mandelson has been approached for comment.