LONDON — The British government agreed Wednesday to release emails and other documents casting light on the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The move came after the opposition Conservative Party said it would force a vote in Parliament calling for the release of emails and other messages related to Mandelson's appointment in 2024. Critics say he should never have been given the job because his relationship with Epstein — though not its extent — was known at the time.
''I intend to make sure that all of the material is published,'' Prime Minister Keir Starmer told lawmakers, apart from documents that compromise Britain's national security, international relations or the police investigation into Mandelson's activities.
Starmer said Mandelson had ''lied repeatedly'' to officials about his relationship with Epstein, and had ''betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party.''
''I regret appointing him,'' Starmer said in the House of Commons. ''If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.''
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the government should publish all relevant files, ''not just the ones the prime minister wants us to see.''
Mandelson, 72, was fired in September from his job as envoy in Washington, after emails were published showing he maintained a friendship with Epstein following the late financier's 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019, while awaiting trial on U.S. federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of girls.
Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords and faces a police investigation for alleged misconduct in public office. A trove of documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice suggested Mandelson may have shared sensitive information with Epstein when he was government minister a decade and a half ago.
