Comment: The fall of Peter Mandelson Published on: 4 February 2026 Writing for The Conversation, Martin Farr discusses the fall of Peter Mandelson and the many questions the UK government must now answer Peter Mandelson and Keir Starmer pictured in February 2025. , , No accident waiting to happen can ever have delivered on its promise so spectacularly as Lord Mandelson, with the continuous revelations of his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The decision by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, to appoint Mandelson as ambassador in Washington DC always appeared a high-risk, high-reward strategy. But no reward could ever have repaid such risk. There is a grim fascination in seeing a prominent public figure鈥檚 reputation incinerated in real time. Mandelson鈥檚 entreating emails to a convicted abuser and trafficker of minors were still quite recently sufficient of an embarrassment before he was then photographed urinating in public. The new normal is to appear on front pages in his underpants. Next will come questions about the meaning of emails that appear to show him betraying the most cardinal principles of public office, for monetary gain, from a criminal. had clearly started 2026 with the intention of rehabilitating himself and re-entering public life: a Sunday morning BBC interview, columns in the Spectator, an interview in the Times. Journalists鈥� requests for comment were replied to. No longer. What was striking across these appearances 鈥� given Mandelson鈥檚 talents 鈥� was his maladroitness. Not to have apologised to the victims of trafficking when pressed in that initial high-profile interview, only to realise his error and concede the following day did not bear the hallmark of a master of public relations. The rehabilitation plan, moreover, evidently did not include a strategy for the documents that were to be released as part of another huge cache of material relating to Epstein. There is now the suggestion that Mandelson may have forwarded government-sensitive information to a foreign banker while he was, effectively, the deputy prime minister and that he encouraged that banker to intimidate his colleague, the chancellor of the exchequer, . The banker allegedly did 鈥渕ildly threaten鈥� Darling. Darling knew someone was leaking, but, having died in 2023, never knew who. Now we have an idea. To separate the procedural from the human, for now, the issue that leaves the current government most exposed is Starmer鈥檚 personal choice of Mandelson as US ambassador. One of two things must have happened: a catastrophic failure in vetting and in due diligence, or the government ignoring red lights from vetting and due diligence. This is also an origin story scandal for the Labour party, in which Mandelson has deep roots. It has always lived in fear of its leaders succumbing to the charms of plutocrats. It happened in 1931, in the 鈥済reat betrayal鈥�, when Labour leader Ramsey McDonald formed a government with the Tories and Liberals to resolve a financial crisis 鈥� one reason the saintly Clement Attlee nationalised the Bank of England in 1946. Attlee鈥檚 deputy leader was Herbert Morrison, Mandelson鈥檚 grandfather. This matters more now because Mandelson鈥檚 influence in the party meant that he has acted as a mentor to so many 鈥� not least the prime minister鈥檚 chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, the man arguably more responsible for this government than Starmer himself, and the person said to have . The fissures of the Blairites and the soft left are reopening. Removing Mandelson There will be those who take pleasure from so public a defenestration of so polarising a figure. Two such will be the Reform and Green party candidates in the . A room of scriptwriters could not have devised a situation calculated to land more effectively for a canvasser from an insurgent party to stand on a doorstep and asks a voter how satisfied they are with the way the country鈥檚 run, and in the qualities of their leaders. Even before the revelations about his friendship with a billionaire paedophile, Mandelson was the personification of the increasingly maligned and resented globalist, lanyard-wearing, chauffeured classes. The online conspiracist hares that have already been sent running are unnecessary: this scandal is in no need of embellishment. Some always knew. Mandelson masterminded Labour鈥檚 electoral approach for a decade, but when he succeeded Neil Kinnock as leader in 1992, John Smith would have nothing to do with him. Smith died suddenly, and Tony Blair鈥檚 sudden ascent was facilitated by Mandelson, to the undying enmity of Gordon Brown. Brown appointed Mandelson his first secretary of state, but from a position of weakness. He is now making his fury known. The current prime minister appointed Mandelson his ambassador to the UK鈥檚 closest and most important ally, but from a position of weakness. Brown, at least, can vent his fury 鈥� he no longer has office to lose. Mandelson with the US president, Donald Trump, in the Oval Office in June 2025. , In the space of a few hours, Mandelson鈥檚 future shifted from the certainty of ignominy to the possibility of prison. We are already beyond historical parallel. For 60 years, has been the yardstick for political scandal in the UK (and another where the exploitation of women was lost in a voyeuristic melee). We have a new one. In other political cultures, Mandelson would by now have been airlifted to a safehouse outside Moscow or Riyadh, given sanctuary, never to be seen or heard of again. But the prime minister will be seeing and hearing of Mandelson for some time to come. When it comes to making appointments 鈥� a prime minister鈥檚 elemental power 鈥� Starmer has frequently made the wrong choices, through innate caution and timidity, to the detriment of his government. It is the one exception to this cautious approach that may prove to be the most consequential of all. , Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 recognised with geography award 缅北禁地 has been awarded the Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award for its collaboration with Time for Geography, the UK鈥檚 open-access, dedicated video platform. published on: 16 April 2026 缅北禁地 historians mark General Strike centenary To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike and miners鈥� lock-out of 1926, historians at 缅北禁地 are organising a series of events on its enduring legacy. published on: 16 April 2026 Comment: NCP is in administration Writing for The Conversation, Erwei (David) Xiang discusses how some big companies like NCP are so dependent on debt that they can鈥檛 adjust to change. published on: 16 April 2026 Facts and figures
![缅北禁地 logo](/gomobileassets/img/logo.svg" "缅北禁地"){kind=logo}