Starmer faces rising anger over Mandelson as MPs agree to release files to security committee – as it happened

MPs have agreed that ministers will have to share papers relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.Originally the government wanted to retain the power to block the publication of certain papers relating to matters “prejudicial to UK national security or international relations”.Instead, after the government altered plans following backbench pressure from senior Labour MPs Angela Rayner and Dame Meg Hillier, the relevant documents will be referred to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in Parliament.That amendment has now been nodded through by MPs.MPs have agreed that ministers will have to share papers relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador

Labour MPs say Starmer’s days as PM are numbered amid fury over Mandelson

Labour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.The government was on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson’s appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.MPs said the eventual release of the documents – which may be delayed by a police investigation into Mandelson – could trigger a leadership challenge. “We need all the poison to come out,” one MP said.One former minister said: “We’ve had a lot of bad days recently, but this is the worst yet, I think,” while another MP warned: “Trust is finite

Mandelson’s links with US tech firm Palantir must be fully exposed, campaigners warn

Peter Mandelson’s involvement with the US tech company Palantir must be exposed to full public transparency, campaigners have said, amid fears he may have leaked more sensitive information than is alleged in his emails to Jeffrey Epstein.Palantir, a $300bn company that provides military technology to the Israel Defense Forces and AI-powered deportation targeting for Donald Trump’s ICE units, has UK government contracts worth more than £500m. Global Counsel, a lobbying company Mandelson co-founded and part-owns, also works for Palantir.The cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, is being urged to release information about Mandelson’s role when the British embassy arranged for Keir Starmer to visit Palantir’s showroom in Washington DC in February 2025 shortly after Mandelson became ambassador to the US.Mandelson and Starmer met the company’s chief executive Alex Karp and were shown the company’s military technology

How much did Starmer really know about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein?

After the release of a vast tranche of documents and emails that shed further light on the close relationship between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, the government has come under intense pressure to release details about its vetting process before Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador in December 2024.The prime minister confirmed for the first time on Wednesday that he had known about Mandelson’s longer-term relationship with Epstein before appointing him US ambassador, saying the former peer had “lied repeatedly” about the extent of his contact with the late child sex offender.That Starmer knew Mandelson had kept ties with Epstein after his conviction was widely reported when the former cabinet minister lost his job in Washington in September. A Downing Street source said there had been reports linking Mandelson and Epstein before the appointment, including after the disgraced financier was convicted, which had been looked at as part of the appointment process. “Peter Mandelson lied to the prime minister, hid information that has since come to light and presented Epstein as someone he barely knew,” said a Downing street source

Last chance, Keir? MPs in despair as crisis engulfs Downing Street

The debacle of last summer, when Keir Starmer caved in over welfare changes after promised concessions failed to convince his mutinous backbenchers, was viewed as a low point for his government. Now, amazingly, it has happened all over again.If the repetition of history was not already enough, with the ructions over releasing government documents about Peter Mandelson, once again Starmer has a certain Angela Rayner to thank, in part, for digging him out of a political hole.With welfare reform it was the then-deputy prime minister who bluntly told Downing Street that their offering to Labour MPs was not enough to prevent a likely Commons defeat, prompting No 10 to drop the bulk of the plans.On Wednesday, Rayner was a key voice advocating that the intelligence and security committee (ISC) should vet the Mandelson files, not No 10, a decision eventually adopted by the government in its amendment to a Conservative motion

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000, documents reveal

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000 after he was given two guest passes by an Iranian-born billionaire, documents show.The Reform UK leader officially declared his attendance at the conference on the register of MPs’ interests, after giving speeches at the Switzerland summit in which he pledged to “put the global elites on notice”.Despite previously having dismissed the World Economic Forum as a jaunt for “globalists”, Farage also accepted £1,100 of luxury hotel accommodation from the conference organisers.The Guardian revealed last month that Farage had his trip to Davos paid for by Sasan Ghandehari, which the Reform UK leader refused to confirm at the time. He was registered at the forum under the banner of HP Trust, which is the family office of Ghandehari and describes itself as having a portfolio value in excess of $10bn (£7