A government minister has fuelled speculation that Peter Mandelson could be thrown out of the House of Lords or lose the Labour whip permanently, saying the former US ambassador’s links with Jeffrey Epstein were “disgusting”.
Asked if the disgraced former US envoy should be stripped of his Lords seat, former home secretary Jacqui Smith said she was “angry and disgusted” by his behaviour, adding that Lord Mandelson’s fate in the Lords would be decided by chief whip Roy Kennedy.
Lord Mandelson was dramatically sacked on Thursday amid new revelations about his relationship with the convicted paedophile – raising serious questions about the prime minister’s judgement.
The comments by Baroness Smith, currently skills minister, came after allies of Lord Mandelson reportedly said he plans to fight demands for him to be expelled from the Lords.
Campaigners say Lord Mandelson should lose his peerage as punishment for his links to Epstein, which led to Sir Keir Starmer sacking him as Britain’s ambassador in Washington.
After Baroness Smith expressed her strong disapproval of his conduct, she was asked by the BBC: “Given how angry you are, should he remain in the House of Lords?”
She replied: “Well, you are right. I think what Peter Mandelson said was disgusting. I am angry about it.
“Peter Mandelson is currently on a leave of absence from the House of Lords and therefore doesn’t have the Labour whip. What happens in the future will be up to the whip.”
Further emphasising her point, she went on: “But you are right, I am very angry about what we have discovered about his [Mandelson’s] relationship [with Epstein].”
Lord Mandelson’s sacking came after a string of shocking revelations, including emails appearing to show him offering support for Epstein as he faced charges of child sex offences.
Downing Street has insisted that the “depth and extent” of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was “materially different” to what was known at the time of his appointment.
Emails published on Wednesday afternoon included passages in which Lord Mandelson had told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Baroness Smith insisted Sir Keir did not see the “detail” of emails between Lord Mandelson and Epstein “until after Prime Minister’s Questions” last Wednesday – which saw the PM defend the Labour grandee and insist he still had confidence in him.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What happened on Tuesday was that media sources came forward to the Foreign Office with extracts from the emails. The Foreign Office asked questions of Peter Mandelson.
“It was on Wednesday, and in fact not until after Prime Minister’s Questions that No 10 and the prime minister saw the detail of those emails – as I’ve just outlined the particularly egregious things that were said and exposed in those emails.
“And when Keir Starmer saw those, he took action to remove Peter Mandelson as our ambassador.”
Over the weekend, left-wing Labour MP Olivia Blake said it was “really embarrassing” if Sir Keir was not told about Lord Mandelson’s emails to Epstein soon enough.
“We saw through the welfare reforms that they did the same again. They didn’t tell Keir, they didn’t tell the prime minister how bad it was on the backbenches,” she said.
Ms Blake added: “I just think that whoever’s gatekeeping the information to the prime minister needs to stop. They need to be getting stuff to him much earlier.”
There are growing calls for Lord Mandelson to lose his seat in the Lords, with Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, telling the PA news agency she found it “completely hypocritical” that four Labour MPs who “acted in good faith” were suspended over their opposition to welfare cuts earlier this year, while similar action has not been taken against Lord Mandelson.
“I certainly don’t think he should be representing the Labour Party in any way, shape or form,” she said.
Chris Hinchliff, who was suspended by Labour over his efforts to halt the government’s welfare reforms and now sits as an independent MP, also said the ex-ambassador should be removed from the Lords.
“Someone with such flawed judgment should not be involved in shaping the laws of our country,” he posted on X (Twitter).
The Labour Party does not have the power to kick him out of the House of Lords, but removing the whip from a peer means they can sit as an independent.
Lord Mandelson could resign as a sitting member of the House of Lords, but he would retain his title.
The SNP has lodged an early day motion seeking to strip Lord Mandelson of his peerage, as removing a title from a peer entirely would require a new act of parliament.
