Files show British prime minister was warned of 'reputational risk' in appointing Mandelson

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was warned that Peter Mandelson ’s friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein exposed the government to “reputational risk,” but he still appointed him as ambassador to the United States, documents released Wednesday show.

Starmer fired Mandelson after nine months in the job when new details of the relationship with Epstein emerged, and now faces a political storm over the appointment. The newly published files show the prime minister ignored red flags raised by his staff when he appointed the savvy but controversial Mandelson to the U.K.'s most important diplomatic post.

Mandelson was briefly arrested last month by police investigating allegations he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago.

Concerns were raised in a document sent to Starmer in December 2024 when he was considering appointing Mandelson, an elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, to a diplomatic post seen as vital to establishing relations with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

A “due diligence report” prepared by senior civil servants summarized a relationship between Mandelson and Epstein that ran from at least 2002 — the year Mandelson "facilitated” a meeting between Epstein and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair — to 2019, the year of Epstein's death.

The document notes that “Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in June 2009” for sexual offenses involving a minor, and cites a 2019 report commissioned by JPMorgan which said Epstein had “particularly close relationship” with the then-Prince Andrew and with Mandelson.

It also spelled out unrelated reputational issues over Mandelson’s work in a previous Labour government — when he twice had to resign over financial matters — and his work at Global Counsel, a lobbying firm he co-founded.

Despite the red flags in the documents, Cabinet minister Darren Jones said the due diligence “did not expose the depth and extent” of Mandelson's friendship with Epstein. He said Mandelson had lied to Starmer about the friendship.

“Peter Mandelson should never have been afforded the privilege of representing this country,” Jones told lawmakers in the House of Commons. “I reiterate for the House that the prime minister deeply regrets taking him at his word. It was a mistake to do so.”

Starmer fired Mandelson in September after an earlier release of documents showed he had maintained contact with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction.

Further details about Mandelson’s ties with Epstein, revealed in a huge trove of files published by the U.S. Department of Justice in January, raised new questions about Starmer's judgment, driving opponents and even some members of the governing Labour Party to call for the prime minister’s resignation.

Starmer survived the immediate danger, but his position remains fragile, even though he never met Epstein and is not implicated in his crimes.

The 147 pages of documents published Wednesday were released after lawmakers forced Starmer’s government to disclose thousands of files about the decision to name Mandelson to the key diplomatic post at the start of Trump’s second term.

The government says the files will show Mandelson misled officials.

The documents are being published in batches after review by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Police have asked the government not to release files that could compromise their criminal investigation into Mandelson.

The documents published Wednesday note that Mandelson was asked questions about his relationship with Epstein, and say the prime minister's communications director was "satisfied with his responses.”

The responses themselves have not yet been published because of the police investigation.

And the files raise more questions for Starmer. After Mandelson was fired, National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell told the prime minister’s lawyer that he had raised concerns about “the individual and reputation” and found the appointment process “weirdly rushed,” the documents show.

Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Starmer had made a “catastrophic failure of judgment."

Conservative lawmaker Alex Burghart said that while Mandelson might have lied to the prime minister, "he wasn’t lied to by this due diligence document.

“The prime minister knew all he needed to know. It was on him. It’s on him now. He let his party down. He let his country down. I very much doubt that either will trust him again.”

The Epstein files released in January suggest that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government’s business secretary after the 2008 financial crisis. That includes an internal government report discussing ways the U.K. could raise money, including by selling off government assets.

Mandelson also appears to have told Epstein he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses.

Mandelson, 72, was arrested Feb. 23 at his London home on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has been released without bail conditions as the police investigation continues.

He has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.

He has been forced to resign from the House of Lords, and has lost his 157,000 pound ($210,000) a year ambassador's salary. The documents show that after being sacked Mandelson asked for a 547,000 pound payoff, the rest of his four-year salary.

In the end, the government gave him 75,000 pounds.

A print out copy of the documents released by the British government are photographed in London, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, and show officials believed there was a "reputational risk" to appointing Peter Mandelson as the U.S. ambassador because of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

A print out copy of the documents released by the British government are photographed in London, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, and show officials believed there was a "reputational risk" to appointing Peter Mandelson as the U.S. ambassador because of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. ambassador to the United States, leaves his house in London, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. ambassador to the United States, leaves his house in London, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. ambassador to the United States, leaves his house in London, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran attacked commercial ships on Wednesday and targeted Dubai International Airport, escalating a campaign of bottling up the oil-rich Persian Gulf as global energy concerns mounted and American and Israeli airstrikes pounded the Islamic Republic.

Iran's response to the surprise Israeli and U.S. bombardment 12 days ago has upended trade routes, choked supplies of fuel and fertilizer coming out of the Gulf and threatened air traffic through one of the world's most-traveled regions. Both sides have dug in, hoping to outlast the other.

An Israeli intelligence assessment found that Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded at the start of the war — on the day when his father and predecessor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

An Israeli intelligence official and a reservist with knowledge of the assessment spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. They gave no details on the nature of the injuries.

The 56-year-old, whose wife was also killed in the Israeli strike, has not been seen since becoming supreme leader on Monday. Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, wrote on social media that he had heard Mojtaba was wounded but that friends said “he is healthy and there is no problem.”

The fallout across the Middle East has widened as Israel strikes what it says are targets connected to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The U.N. refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon, while more than 92,000 others have crossed into neighboring Syria.

In a separate development, Iran’s sports minister said it cannot take part in the upcoming soccer World Cup in North America in June because of the “wicked acts” of the United States. Ahmad Donyamali told Iranian state TV that “it’s not possible for us to take part in the World Cup” after the U.S. launched two wars against Iran in less than a year. He said Iranian players would not be safe in the United States.

Two Iranian drones hit near the Dubai airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and the world’s busiest for international travel. Four people were wounded but flights continued, the Dubai Media Office said.

A projectile hit a Thai cargo ship off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, setting it ablaze. Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy, according to Thailand’s Marine Department.

At least 12 incidents have been confirmed involving vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes, since the war began, according to two global trackers. The International Maritime Organization says at least seven mariners have been killed.

Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic through the narrow strait. It has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.

The United States has pledged to keep the strait open and has carried out intense airstrikes targeting Iran's navy and the port city of Bandar Abbas.

The U.S. military said Tuesday it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the strait, though U.S. President Donald Trump said in social media posts that there were no reports yet of Iran mining the passage.

Some tankers, believed linked to Iran, are continuing to get through the strait, making so-called “dark” transits -- meaning they aren’t turning on trackers that show where they are. Vessels carrying sanctioned Iranian crude often turn off their trackers.

The commodity-tracking firm Kpler said Iran has restarted crude exports through its Jask oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman. A tanker loaded roughly 2 million barrels at Jask on March 7, it said.

Oil prices remained well below Monday’s peaks but the price of Brent crude, the international standard, was still up some 20% Wednesday from when the war began. Consumers around the world are already feeling the pain at the pump.

The International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the war’s impact on energy markets.

The Paris-based organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its member countries’ emergency reserves, more than twice the amount they released four years ago in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Israeli strikes set a building ablaze in central Beirut, engulfing the top two floors. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said four people were wounded.

Other Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon killed 14 people, and a Red Cross worker also died Wednesday of wounds sustained Monday, when his team was hit by an Israeli strike while they were rescuing people from an earlier attack.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said Wednesday that 570 people have been killed in the country since the latest fighting began.

Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.

Iran’s joint military command said it would start targeting banks and financial institutions in the Middle East. That would put at risk particularly Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and the island kingdom of Bahrain.

The threat came after a Tehran location of Bank Sepah, a state-owned financial institution sanctioned by the U.S. over funding its armed forces, came under attack Wednesday, killing staffers there, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

This story has been corrected to fix an earlier misspelling of Mojtaba Khamenei’s first name.

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Sally Abou AIJoud in Beirut, Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this story.

A man holds a picture of late Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh beside his coffin as mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A mourner holds a poster depicting Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, as supreme leader, during the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and some civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji, File)

Rescue workers gather at the site where Israeli airstrikes hit apartments in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank financial institution run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty traditional main bazaar in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Motorbikes drive past a billboard depicting Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, handing the country’s flag to his son and successor Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, as the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stands at left, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)