- Mandelson damaged the party and trust in politics: McSweeney.
- He says “the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong.”
- His resignation comes as the ministry reviews Mandelson’s exit payment.
LONDON: Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigned on Sunday over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, despite his links to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. It has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney said in a statement.
“I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice,” he added.
The 48-year-old Irishman always kept a low profile but was dubbed by some as the “most powerful man in politics” as he played a key role in Starmer’s resounding election victory in July 2024.
He is credited with helping push the Labor Party towards a more centrist political agenda following the ill-fated tenure of former left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He was also said to have been close to Mandelson, who previously helped former Prime Minister Tony Blair transform the party and its fortunes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The resignation came as the Foreign Office said it was reviewing an exit payment to Mandelson, who was sacked by Starmer last September over his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson, a central figure in British politics and the Labor Party for decades, was paid an estimated $52,000 to $74,000 after just seven months in the job, according to a report by the Sunday schedule.
Documents released on January 30 by the US Department of Justice appear to show that Mandelson allegedly leaked confidential UK government information to financier Epstein when he was a British minister, including during the 2008 financial crisis.
The revelation put intense pressure on Starmer and triggered a police investigation into Mandelson, 72, for alleged misconduct in public office.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that it had launched a review of Mandelson’s severance pay “in light of further information that has now been revealed and the ongoing police investigation.”
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden previously insisted Starmer should remain in office despite his “terrible mistake” in appointing Mandelson.
He said the real blame lay “squarely” with Mandelson for running for office despite knowing the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
‘Regrets’
Starmer’s deputy David Lammy became the first cabinet minister to appear to distance himself from the prime minister, according to a newspaper report Sunday Telegraph.
The deputy prime minister was not in favor of Mandelson’s appointment because of his known ties to Epstein, friends of Lammy’s cited in the report said.
Starmer’s Labor Party took power just over 18 months ago with a landslide election victory.
But he has been behind Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant UK Reform as the government has come under fire over immigration, economic growth and the cost of living crisis.
Reformist Britain has led polls by double digits for the past year.
Mandelson, also a former European Union trade commissioner, retired from parliament’s unelected upper house, the House of Lords, earlier this week.
The former envoy was one of several prominent figures who were further embarrassed by last week’s latest revelations about ties to financier Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while facing charges of alleged sex trafficking.
US officials ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.
A spokesperson for the Mishcon de Reya law firm, which represents Mandelson, said he “regrets, and will regret until the day he dies, having believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality.”
“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019. He deeply regrets that powerless and vulnerable women and girls did not receive the protection they deserved,” the law firm said.
Starmer paid tribute to McSweeney in a statement. It was “largely thanks to their dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won an overwhelming majority,” he said.
“Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude,” he added.
