British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that he has "confidence" in the country's ambassador to the United States, who is facing mounting criticism over his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer's defence of Peter Mandelson came after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for Epstein, who at the time was a wealthy and well-connected financier.
In a handwritten note in the album, Mandelson referred to Epstein as "my best pal."
Other alleged contributors to the album that was compiled by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell were President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton and included other letters with sexually provocative language.
Mandelson, who took on the prestigious diplomatic role earlier this year in the wake of the Labour Party's election victory in July 2024, admitted knowing Epstein well and told The Sun newspaper that the comments he wrote were "very embarrassing to see and to read."
Insisting that he has a "tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy" for Epstein's victims, Mandelson said his comments were written before Epstein was indicted and that he did not have a business relationship with him.
Epstein took his own life in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
"I never saw any evidence of criminal activity," he said. "Perhaps it's because I'm a gay man, perhaps when I knew him, perhaps when I was associated with him those years ago, as I did with my then partner and now husband, we never, ever saw any evidence or sign of this activity, which has since come to light."
The revelations about Mandelson's links with Epstein prompted Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, to ask Starmer whether the position of the US ambassador was "tenable."
Starmer said Mandelson has "repeatedly expressed his deep regret" for his association with Epstein.
"I have confidence in him and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship," he said.
A skilled political operator, Mandelson is no stranger to controversy, having twice resigned from former Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in 1998 and 2001.
He subsequently became a European Commissioner for trade, before returning to frontline British politics in 2008 to serve under Blair's successor, Gordon Brown.
Starmer considers Mandelson's trade expertise as vital in helping to limit the scale of tariffs imposed on the import of British goods into the US.
Starmer's office insisted that all due process was followed in appointing Mandelson. Spokesman Dave Pares said the ambassador had gone through "extensive vetting and background checks."
For a prime minister who has had a bruising week after the resignation of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, over a tax dispute, the Mandelson distraction is unwelcome.
Mandelson has indicated that further embarrassing revelations are likely to emerge in the coming weeks.
"I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges between us, absolutely," he said.
