Fact check: The Epstein files include limited mentions of UK party leaders

A widely shared social media post listed UK political party leaders by how many times they were “mentioned in the Epstein files”.

The post said Nigel Farage was mentioned 37 times, Sir Keir Starmer 26 times, Jeremy Corbyn four times, Kemi Badenoch twice and Sir Ed Davey once.

Evaluation

Being mentioned in the Epstein files is not an indicator of any wrongdoing.

Analysis of the results for those UK politicians’ names in the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) Epstein Library shows they often appear in newsletters, news articles, article links and news briefings that were discussed or forwarded.

Several of the results are duplicates, repeating the same email conversations because the DoJ “erred on the side of over-collecting materials”.

The facts

What are the Epstein files?

The United States Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November last year. Under the Act, the DoJ is required to publish all “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to the investigation and prosecution of the late US paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The DoJ has so far published 3.5 million pages in compliance with the Act, including 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The most recent release was on January 30.

A statement about the latest release said: “This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act.”

How are UK party leaders mentioned in the pages?

The post is correct that results are returned when “Nigel Farage”, “Keir Starmer”, “Jeremy Corbyn”, “Kemi Badenoch”, or “Ed Davey” are searched for in the Epstein Library. The number of results for each name have fluctuated during the research for this fact check.

However, analysis (download file) by the Press Association shows their names primarily appear in newsletters and articles included within emails. Many files repeat the same email conversations, so one conversation can appear as several results despite the person’s name only being mentioned once.

The DoJ stated it “erred on the side of over-collecting materials”.

Looking at the results for “Nigel Farage”, 21 mentions are from the same 2018 email conversation between former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Epstein where the Reform UK leader’s name appears in a translated news article.

There are several results for the same email conversation, some showing the different replies between Epstein and Mr Bannon.

All results for “Keir Starmer” are from 2024 and 2025, years after the death of Epstein in 2019. The majority of mentions of the Prime Minister – 16 results – are from duplicate versions of an email conversation from 2025 whose senders and recipients are largely redacted. The email chain is difficult to follow.

One email mentioning “Starmer” is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) daily news briefing which includes the headline of an article on “anti-immigrant riots” posing a “critical test for Starmer”.

A search for “Jeremy Corbyn” shows a newsletter included in emails which discuss his leadership of Labour at the time. Additionally, “Corbyn” appears in a personal email to Epstein from a redacted sender who wrote: “Oh and if Corbyn becomes PM we are moving to Portugal”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is not directly mentioned in the files, but her name appears within the link to a news article in a large set of emails. A second result shows the same conversation.

Sir Ed Davey’s name appears in what appears to be a long newsletter sent to Epstein in 2013. Page 26 of the document mentions the Liberal Democrat leader, then energy secretary in the coalition government, attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The links

X post (archived)

Congress.gov – Epstein Files Transparency Act (archived)

Justice.gov – Press release (archived)

Justice.gov – Epstein Library (archived)

Google sheet download – Press Association: Analysis of social media claim

Justice.gov – File of email conversation with article mentioning Farage (archived)

Justice.gov – Second file of email conversation with article mentioning Farage (archived)

Justice.gov – Third file of email conversation with article mentioning Farage (archived)

Justice.gov – FBI memo, July 2025 (archived)

Justice.gov – File of email conversation mentioning Starmer (archived)

Justice.gov – Second file of email conversation mentioning Starmer (archived)

Justice.gov – File of FBI news briefing (archived)

Justice.gov – File of newsletter mentioning Corbyn (archived)

Justice.gov – File of personal email to Epstein mentioning Corbyn (archived)

Justice.gov – File of emails with article link mentioning Badenoch (archived)

Justice.gov – Second file of emails with article link mentioning Badenoch (archived)

Justice.gov – File of newsletter email mentioning Davey (archived)