Serious questions remain over Lord Mandelson appointment despite files release, say SNP

Labour still has “serious questions” to answer over Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US, despite the release of thousands of documents about the posting, the SNP has said.

The party’s leader in Westminster, Dave Doogan, insisted the appointment of the “scandal-plagued peer” showed a “deep rot” at the heart of the Labour Government at Westminster.

The SNP MP added: “Even if Starmer is finally removed from office, the links to Mandelson are so widespread across the Labour Party, that the issue will not go away.”

With Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint the former cabinet minister to the high profile role having led to questions about his premiership, Doogan insisted that “the Prime Minister should have done the decent thing and resigned months ago”.

Lord Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador in September last year as a result of his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Doogan spoke out as the second tranche of documents relating to Sir Keir’s decision to give the prestigious Washington job to the veteran Labour politician, rather than a career diplomat, were released by the Government on Monday afternoon.

These showed Lord Mandelson said the Government would “never regret” appointing him to the role.

But the documents also showed he apparently “declined to comply” with a request to hand over his personal phone and allow the Government to publish WhatsApp messages and other information related to his appointment.

Ahead of their publication, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman described the sweeping Government effort to publish the documents as an “unprecedented piece of Government transparency”.

Doogan said: “The sordid revelations in the Peter Mandelson scandal are utterly damning and show a deep rot at the centre of the Labour government, from No 10 down.

“The Labour Party has serious questions to answer about why it gave Jeffrey Epstein’s friend such a powerful role in the UK Government, and allowed the scandal-plagued peer to wield such influence, despite it being a matter of public record that he maintained his close friendship with the convicted paedophile and had repeatedly been forced from office in the past.”

The SNP Westminster leader added: “Peter Mandelson shared market-sensitive, UK government information with Epstein. He should never have been allowed anywhere near power.

“It is shameful that Starmer recklessly appointed him – and the fact that he still hasn’t taken action to remove Mandelson’s peerage, titles and taxpayer-funded golden goodbye pay-off and pension is a disgrace.”