MPs press for details given to the PM before show of confidence in Mandelson

MPs have pressed the Cabinet Office to release the information available to Sir Keir Starmer when he told the House of Commons he had confidence in Lord Peter Mandelson ahead of his sacking.

During an appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald said he will consider the request for further information contained in a due diligence report on the former UK ambassador to the United States.

Lord Mandelson was sacked a day after the Prime Minister told MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions on September 10 that he retained confidence in him, despite concerns over his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

While Lord Mandelson’s ties to Mr Epstein were known when he was appointed, emails later emerged in which he told the paedophile financier to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Lord Mandelson was also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the sex offender began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

Sir Chris was repeatedly pushed to reveal the details contained in a report handed to Sir Keir ahead of Lord Mandelson’s appointment in February, and he was also challenged on the timing of information given to the Prime Minister as the scandal broke.

The Cabinet Secretary declined to expand on the contents of the report, including whether it included a reference to the emails in question, but insisted that all known details were given to the Prime Minister.

Sir Keir has said it was regrettable that he was not made aware of the new information before he addressed MPs on the matter.

Also appearing before the committee, Sir Oliver Robbins – permanent under-secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office – confirmed the department and Number 10 were aware of the emails ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions on September 10.

Committee chair Emily Thornberry asked Sir Chris whether the Prime Minister was informed before he addressed MPs of evidence that Lord Mandelson had stayed at Mr Epstein’s townhouse in 2009, when he was in prison for soliciting an “underage” girl.

Sir Chris said: “I have said as much as I’m going to say about the content of the due diligence report… for the long standing reason that we protect advice that goes to the Prime Minister.

“I have actually gone a long way in describing what the report covered… and that is as far as I can go.

Ms Thornberry than asked Sir Chris to provide the committee with a list of the separate reports on Lord Mandelson’s association with Mr Epstein that were given to the Prime Minister.

In response, he said: “I am happy to take that question away and see whether there were other things we can be shared.”

Sir Oliver confirmed that his department had received a media inquiry from Bloomberg about the emails.

When asked why the Prime Minister was not informed about the emails ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “We received the material. We asked some questions about that material, which the Prime Minister has commented on in his public remarks.

“I can’t speak to exactly what he saw at what point… but Chris and I were in constant contact about it, and I was briefing the foreign secretary.

When challenged further on why Number 10 was not made aware of the “pretty explosive” emails, Sir Oliver said: “Chris may be able to say a bit more about the process by which the Prime Minister is briefed for Prime Minister’s Questions.”

He added: “The media inquiry was known to Number 10. Chris and I were clear that this needed to be dealt with with sensitivity and as a management issue.

“This may sound naive, and forgive me for that, but I needed to behave to Lord Mandelson as to someone I owed a duty of care.

“He was in an extremely exposed position, and I had to make sure I was thinking about and looking after the way in which we were dealing with him – and dealing with him, and dealing with him fairly and transparency.”