First Andrew, now Mandelson: British PM Starmer can’t catch a break
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British PM Keir Starmer (right) with former ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception in Washington on Feb 26, 2025.
PHOTO: AFP
LONDON – For British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it’s just one thing after another.
On Feb 19, it was the image of the former prince Andrew
The back-to-back humiliation of well-known British public figures is the last thing that the embattled Labour leader needs with polling already showing him as the most unpopular UK prime minister in modern times and a series of key local and regional election tests on the horizon.
The fact that the latest blow is coming from a one-time kingmaker inside Mr Starmer’s own party makes the current state of affairs that much more painful for the knighted human-rights barrister who returned Labour to power after 14 years in the wilderness on a promise of cleaning up politics.
Mr Starmer never met Jeffrey Epstein – but the ties that Mr Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Mr Mandelson had with the convicted sex offender run deep. With their defenestration, Mr Starmer had hoped to put the crisis behind him.
Instead, their arrests over misconduct in public office threaten to engulf his administration less than two years after a landslide general election. Both men have been released on bail while the authorities consider whether to press charges, with Mr Mandelson returning home early on Feb 24 after about nine hours in police custody.
A lawyer for Mr Mandelson declined to comment, while the former prince has denied any wrongdoing.
Though Mr Starmer fired Mr Mandelson in September after a Bloomberg News investigation revealed the depths of his relationship with Epstein, fresh e-mails from the US Department of Justice in recent weeks showed him allegedly forwarding potentially market-sensitive government information to Epstein.
Mr Starmer’s chief of staff and communications chief both quit in the wake of the new revelations and Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar held a press conference urging the Prime Minister to step down.
Mr Starmer had just about managed to weather the storm, helped by swift public support from his entire Cabinet. This week’s development puts the controversy firmly back in the public consciousness in the same week that his party faces an election in Manchester.
It was once a stronghold for Labour. The party now risks losing the seat to either Mr Nigel Farage’s Reform or the Green Party as a result of a sharp decline in support since the 2024 general election. A YouGov poll earlier in February found that 95 per cent of Britons said they were aware of the Mandelson scandal, with 44 per cent saying they were following developments closely.
“This is an enormous scandal,” political historian Anthony Seldon told Sky News. Having helped get the party elected under Mr Tony Blair, Mr Mandelson now “seems to be playing a significant part, not in destroying the Labour Party – obviously it’s going to carry on – but very significantly damaging it”.
Mr Mandelson was widely seen as one of the architects of the “New Labour” movement during the 1990s and 2000s. His reach was such that he earned and wore with pride the moniker “Prince of Darkness” for his ruthless deployment of the dark political arts.
His time in government, however, was not without setbacks. He twice resigned from Mr Blair’s Cabinet at the turn of the century over relationships with wealthy businessmen. It is his chequered history that has critics now questioning the judgment call in bringing him back into government, one that positioned itself against the so-called sleaze that had ended a long run of Conservative rule.
Despite that early brush with bad newspaper headlines, he was made European Commissioner for Trade before returning to become business secretary in the government of Mr Blair’s successor Gordon Brown. He was later made a life peer in the House of Lords.
Following the loss of the 2010 election, he co-founded lobbying company Global Counsel. That went into administration last week due to an exodus of clients after the full extent of his association with Epstein became clear.
His arrest fuels a controversy already weighing on Mr Starmer’s administration. The government has now told the House of Commons that the first tranche of thousands of documents it has been forced to publish relating to Mr Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador will be disclosed early in March.
The contents are likely to further embarrass the government and even risk diplomatic relations with the US, given that they will lay out communications between Mr Mandelson, ministers and officials for the six months prior to his appointment and throughout his seven-month tenure as envoy.
The decision to drip-feed them over several weeks rather than in one go may soften their impact but also means that Mr Starmer cannot hope to put it all behind him. The ongoing police probe will impact which of the documents can be released and limits how much control he has over shaping the narrative.
“An allegation of misconduct in public office against a senior political figure is a grave matter,” said Mr Jonathan Fisher, King’s Counsel, barrister at Red Lion Chambers, of Mr Mandelson’s arrest. “The offence is akin to corruption, as it involves serious abuses of power by those entrusted with public responsibilities.” Bloomberg
