The Moral Collapse of the Labour Government
Revelations about Peter Mandelson from the Epstein files may help spell the end of Keir Starmer’s ministry—and of a whole governing era.
Could the Epstein files bring down the British prime minister? Until days ago, the question would have seemed preposterous. Sir Keir Starmer has no personal connection to the financier and convicted pedophile. Yet today his potential departure leads every news bulletin. In the United States, the Epstein scandal implicates powerful men in the sexual exploitation of women and girls. In Britain, outrage at that abuse now overlaps with a political crisis centered on the trafficking of knowledge, power, and money. With each new revelation, decades-old political certainties are being swept away.
At the end of 2024, Keir Starmer faced a decision. President Trump’s second inauguration was set to take place, yet the role of British ambassador to the U.S. had still to be confirmed. The incumbent, Dame Karen Pierce, was widely considered to have performed well in the role, but her time in office was ending, and Starmer wanted to put his own stamp on trans-Atlantic relations. The man he chose was former Labour minister, then Lord, Peter Mandelson.
The appointment was never uncontroversial. Mandelson had twice been forced to resign as a Labour minister. Back in 1998, with New Labour riding high under Tony Blair’s leadership, it was revealed that Mandelson had received a secret loan of £373,000 from a ministerial colleague, making his position untenable. Back in government just a year later, he was ousted again, in 2001, over allegations that he approved British passports for the Hinduja brothers, wealthy donors to a Labour project.
Far from seeing his political career ended, Mandelson was appointed EU trade commissioner in 2004, a post he held for four years. But controversy was never far away. He was accused of enjoying yacht trips, courtesy of an Italian businessman who allegedly benefited from tariffs on Chinese shoes; of using the private jet of tycoon Nat Rothschild; and of holidaying on the yacht of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, said to have gained from an EU cut in aluminum tariffs introduced under Mandelson’s watch. Despite this record, Mandelson returned to government in 2008, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown recalled him from Brussels, elevated him to the House of Lords, and appointed him business secretary.
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