A summary of today's developments
The first set of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US was released by the government today. MPs ordered the government last month to release tens of thousands of documents relating to the 2024 appointment after questions over how Mandelson was vetted and what was known about his links to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A due diligence report by the Cabinet Office on Mandelson’s appointment found there was a “general reputational risk” over his relationship with Epstein. The due diligence report drawn up in December 2024 before his appointment noted a series of reports detailing his links with Epstein, including that Mandelson had “reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in June 2009”.
Mandelson was offered a highly classified briefing from the Foreign Office as US ambassador before he finished the formal vetting process. The documents suggest that the Foreign Office may have begun to brief Mandelson on classified information after his appointment – but before he was formally vetted at the highest levels.
Mandelson asked for more than £500,000 severance pay but got £75,000. The documents state that negotiations began with Mandelson requesting a pay out for the remainder of his four-year salary costs of the fixed term appointment. “This would have amounted to £547,201.”
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said Mandelson “should never have been appointed”. But in his defence of Keir Starmer, he said the Cabinet Office due diligence report “did not expose the depth and extent” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.
Jones described Mandelson’s request for more than £500,000 severance pay as “inappropriate and unacceptable”. He told the Commons that the final pay out that was agreed “was to avoid even higher further costs involving a drawn-out legal claim at the employment tribunal”.
The Conservatives claimed the prime minister “knew all he needed to know” when he appointed Mandelson, describing it as a “bad choice”. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, who delivered the party’s response to Jones’s statement in the Commons, said it was a choice that “we can now read about in black and white” in the documents.
National security adviser Jonathan Powell found the appointment process “weirdly rushed”. The documents summarised a phone call between Powell and Mike Ostheimer, the general counsel to the prime minister, on 12 September 2025, in which “Jonathan Powell found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson weirdly rushed”.
Mandelson suggested using Nigel Farage to “better UK connections with the Trump administration”. Mandelson was quoted in the documents as saying: “He’s [Farage] a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others … National interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
According to the documents, Jonathan Powell expressed concerns about the appointment of Peter Mandelson with Morgan McSweeney, the PM’s former chief of staff. He said he believed Starmer “may have had a couple of political conversations” about Mandelson’s links to the disgraced financier. Powell also claimed Philip Barton, the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, also “had reservations around the appointment”, the BBC reported.
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said the government hopes all of the files requested into Mandelson will be released in one more final batch. He told the BBC the remainder still have to go through checks with the Metropolitan Police and the Intelligence and Security Committee, but they are working as “quickly as we can”.
Four months after Peter Mandelson was sacked as UK ambassador to Washington over his links with Jeffrey Epstein, he sat down for a primetime BBC interview. A less hubristic individual would have long since slunk away into the shadows.
But despite all the condemnation and humiliation surrounding his departure, Mandelson seemed intent on maintaining a public profile. “Who knows what’s next?” he told Laura Kuenssberg. “I don’t know what’s next. I’m not going to disappear and hide – that’s not me”.
For some inside Downing Street, those words sounded as a warning – or even a threat. Peter Mandelson still knows where the bodies are buried and could cause the government – and Keir Starmer in particular – a whole lot of trouble. A man scorned, and all that.
But even were he to take a vow of silence – and he does at least appear to be keeping a lower profile since the police launched their investigation – the prime minister’s decision to appoint Mandelson in the first place is still causing problems that could yet turn into another political storm.
The release of the first tranche of Mandelson documents – only agreed after the Conservatives forced the government’s hand – was always going to be a risky moment for Starmer, as it once again turned the spotlight on his decisions.
Mandelson doesn’t come out of it well. One of the most eye-catching – but perhaps unsurprising – revelations was that the former ambassador was offered a severance payment of £75,000, after initially asking the Foreign Office to pay him more than £500,000.
There is little from Mandelson himself in the documents beyond his request that he be allowed to arrive back in the UK “with the maximum dignity and minimum media intrusion”. Again, unsurprising for a man so focused on his own reputation.
The real danger for Starmer is not how Mandelson emerges from the documents, but that the focus is once again on his own decisions. The Cabinet Office’s due diligence report was littered with red flags about the risks of the appointment.
A Labour MP has called for an urgent crackdown on “finfluencers”, who use social media to promote incorrect financial advice.
Stella Creasy pressed the Government to ban the promotion of certain tax avoidance arrangements by financial influencers as part of its Finance (No 2) Bill.
She raised the case of army reservist Danny Butcher, 37, who killed himself after paying £13,000 for training with a company which promised financial freedom.
Creasy said: “We don’t need to warn our constituents about the danger of taking advice online. We need to collectively act to stop this before it gets any worse.
“New clause four would allow us to be clear that the powers in this Bill also apply to these con artists.”
Creasy did not push her amendment to a vote, instead withdrawing it.
The Bill, which places the Chancellor’s budget plans on the statute book, was passed in the Commons by 292 votes to 161, majority 131.
At third reading, Treasury minister Lucy Rigby said: “The measures in this Bill contain the right choices for the public finances, the right choices on investment, the right choices for businesses and for working people, the right choices for our public services, and the right choices for Britain.”
One of Britain’s largest trade unions is cutting membership fees to Labour by more than half a million pounds over the Birmingham bin strike.
The move by Unite, one of the three largest unions affiliated to Labour and a key financial donor to it, comes ahead of a conference next year when members will consider whether they want to maintain ties to the party.
Unite announced the 40% cut, which will cost Labour as much as £580,000, on the anniversary of the bin strike in Birmingham, in which workers have been pitted against a city council controlled by the party.
The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Unite members are coming to the end of the line as far as Labour is concerned.
“Workers are scratching their heads asking whose side are Labour on, who do they really represent, because it certainly isn’t workers.”
Talks between Unite and the Birmingham city council have failed to reach a solution since the start of the dispute over the local authority’s decision to remove Waste Recycling and Collection Officer posts, and negotiations.
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said the government hopes all of the files requested into Mandelson will be released in one more final batch.
He told the BBC the remainder still have to go through checks with the Metropolitan police and the intelligence and security committee, but they are working as “quickly as we can”.
When asked if he exaggerated the figure Mandelson demanded for a severance payout, Jones added “the documents speak for themselves”.
Earlier, Jones, told the Commons that Mandelson “should never have been appointed”. But in his defence of Keir Starmer, he said the Cabinet Office due diligence report “did not expose the depth and extent” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch has called for Labour MP to potentially remove Keir Starmer as their leader.
The Tory leader said: “He is held hostage by his backbenchers.
“And they can see right now that as much as the prime minister wanted to make this about Peter Mandelson, this is really about Keir Starmer being dishonest with them, with the country, with parliament, about what he knew.
“There are not enough Conservative MPs to remove the prime minister - he won a landslide.
“I think Labour MPs now need to consider their conscience and their position and ask if this man is fit to run our country.”
Updated
The Tories have called on the government to demand Lord Mandelson return his severance pay and “release the files in full” following the publication of the first tranche.
Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart MP said: “The lapse in the prime minister’s judgment knows no bounds. Allowing a scandal-ridden former Minister access to highly sensitive information before proper clearance is completely careless.
“Even more troubling is that this happened while the government was aware of Mandelson’s longstanding, close connections to Epstein.
“Labour must come clean about what ministers knew, when they knew it, and why national security safeguards appear to have been treated so casually.
“The government must now release the files in full and demand Mandelson return his severance to the public purse.”
Updated
Starmer's national security adviser expressed concern about Mandelson appointment, documents show
According to the documents, Keir Starmer’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell expressed concerns about the appointment of Peter Mandelson with Morgan McSweeney, the PM’s former chief of staff.
He said he believed Starmer “may have had a couple of political conversations” about Mandelson’s links to the disgraced financier.
Powell also claimed Philip Barton, the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, also “had reservations around the appointment”, the BBC reported.
Updated
We now have the first tranche of documents promised by the government connected to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington – 147 pages from a mass of information believed to total in the hundreds of thousands.
Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have said that he does not intend to make any further statement at this time. Here is what we have learned from the files – and what we do not yet know.
1. Mandelson played hardball over his severance payout
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The individual’s contract states an entitlement to three months’ notice or payment in lieu of notice. On advice of his counsel, the individual has stated this is insufficient, particularly as they believe the actions of HMG have permanently damaged their employability.
There has already been some controversy about the fact that Mandelson was given a £75,000 payoff. The documents show that he sought much more – £547,000, which would have been the total pay he was due for the entire ambassadorial contract. Mandelson had, they added, sought advice from a KC specialising in employment law.
While ministers can be instantly dismissed if they lose the confidence of the prime minister, as a civil servant, Mandelson was entitled to three months’ notice payment, given he had not done anything wrong in the job itself. This notice totalled £40,330, to which the Foreign Office added a “termination payment” of £34,670.
Why? Darren Jones, the chief secretary to Downing Street, argued in the Commons that this was to save money, as if Mandelson had pursued his case at an employment tribunal, it would have cost much more.
2. Starmer knew about Mandelson’s post-jail links to Epstein
After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was business minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government.
This aspect of the documents is unsurprising, not least as Starmer said last month that he knew before appointing Mandelson that his choice for US ambassador had maintained some contact with Epstein even after the disgraced financier had been jailed in 2008.
It is nonetheless striking to see it laid out in black and white in a document for Starmer setting out the “due diligence” carried out on Mandelson.
There was, the report said, “general reputational risk” from the links to Epstein, and other aspects of Mandelson’s life, including his business links and the fact he had been twice forced to resign as a government minister.
Summary of developments so far
The first set of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US was released by the government today. MPs ordered the government last month to release tens of thousands of documents relating to the 2024 appointment after questions over how Mandelson was vetted and what was known about his links to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A due diligence report by the Cabinet Office on Mandelson’s appointment found there was a “general reputational risk” over his relationship with Epstein. The due diligence report drawn up in December 2024 before his appointment noted a series of reports detailing his links with Epstein, including that Mandelson had “reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in June 2009”.
Mandelson was offered a highly classified briefing from the Foreign Office as US ambassador before he finished the formal vetting process. The documents suggest that the Foreign Office may have begun to brief Mandelson on classified information after his appointment – but before he was formally vetted at the highest levels.
Mandelson asked for more than £500,000 severance pay but got £75,000. The documents state that negotiations began with Mandelson requesting a pay out for the remainder of his four-year salary costs of the fixed term appointment. “This would have amounted to £547,201.”
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said Mandelson “should never have been appointed”. But in his defence of Keir Starmer, he said the Cabinet Office due diligence report “did not expose the depth and extent” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.
Jones described Mandelson’s request for more than £500,000 severance pay as “inappropriate and unacceptable”. He told the Commons that the final pay out that was agreed “was to avoid even higher further costs involving a drawn-out legal claim at the employment tribunal”.
The Conservatives claimed the prime minister “knew all he needed to know” when he appointed Mandelson, describing it as a “bad choice”. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, who delivered the party’s response to Jones’s statement in the Commons, said it was a choice that “we can now read about in black and white” in the documents.
National security adviser Jonathan Powell found the appointment process “weirdly rushed”. The documents summarised a phone call between Powell and Mike Ostheimer, the general counsel to the prime minister, on 12 September 2025, in which “Jonathan Powell found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson weirdly rushed”.
Mandelson suggested using Nigel Farage to “better UK connections with the Trump administration”. Mandelson was quoted in the documents as saying: “He’s [Farage] a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others … National interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
What is not included in the documents
The follow-up questions the prime minister asked Peter Mandelson about his links to Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him as ambassador to the US have not been published as part of the documents released today.
This is due to the exchange being subject to an ongoing police investigation into allegations of misconduct in public office, the chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said.
Jones told the Commons that after Keir Starmer reviewed the Cabinet Office due diligence report in December 2024, which warned of a “general reputational risk” over Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, “questions were put to Peter Mandelson by advisers in No 10 … and Peter Mandelson responded”.
“These are matters that are currently the subject of an ongoing police investigation and we will publish this document when the investigation allows,” Jones said.
“When we do, the house will be able to see Peter Mandelson’s answers for themselves, which the prime minister regrets believing.”
Mandelson was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office after allegations that he leaked confidential information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Mandelson was offered highly classified briefing before he finished vetting process
Peter Mandelson was offered a highly classified briefing from the Foreign Office (FCDO) as US ambassador before he finished the formal vetting process, newly released documents reveal.
The documents suggest that the FCDO may have begun to brief Mandelson on classified information after his appointment – but before he was formally vetted at the highest levels. The offer of a briefing came just over a fortnight after Mandelson’s appointment had been announced on 20 December 2024.
An email dated 23 December from the head of the US & Canada department at the FCDO to Mandelson outlined his onboarding arrangements. In this email, the official states: “We’ll brief you further in person from 6 January onwards, including at higher tiers.”
An email does not formally confirm Mandelson’s developed vetting clearance until 30 January 2025, his formal offer of employment.
Read the full report here:
Updated
Lobbying and access to government will be reviewed in wake of Mandelson scandal, says cabinet minister
Lobbying and access to government will be reviewed in the wake of the Mandelson scandal, the chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, said.
Financial disclosures for ministers and senior officials would be looked at by the Ethics and Integrity Commission, Jones told the Commons. The commission was created last October as part of Starmer’s promised robust new approach to government and to any ministerial misdeeds.
Speaking in the Commons, Jones said the Mandelson documents released today “reveal that the due-diligence process fell short of what is required”.
“We have already taken steps to address weaknesses in the system and to ensure that when standards of behaviour fall short of the high standards expected, that there will be more serious consequences,” he said.
“The prime minister has asked the Ethics and Integrity Commission to conduct a review of the current arrangements relating to financial disclosures for ministers and senior officials, transparency around lobbying, and the business appointment rules.
“And we are conducting a review of the national security vetting system to ensure we learn the lessons from the policy and process weaknesses related to Peter Mandelson’s case.”
Updated
The files show that Mandelson’s total remuneration package as UK ambassador to the US was £180,252.
This includes a base salary of £153,000, plus £11,406 “COLA”, believed to be the cost of living adjustment, a payment made to compensate for differences in living costs between two locations, and £18,925 “DSA”, which might be referring to the diplomatic service allowance.
Badenoch: Starmer's judgment is 'shocking'
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has reacted to the released documents, saying Starmer’s judgment is “shocking”.
In comments posted on social media, she said:
Mandelson reportedly leaked sensitive government documents. Starmer knew Mandelson had stayed close friends with Epstein after the conviction for child prostitution, but made him Ambassador anyway.
Now we see he paid Mandelson almost £80k of our money. His judgment is shocking.
Mandelson was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office after allegations that he leaked confidential information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Back to the documents, a No 10 private office record of a meeting on 11 September details what led to Starmer’s decision to sack Mandelson.
It states that emails published by news outlet Bloomberg “revealed a depth and extent of a relationship with Epstein which he had not been aware of previously when he made the decision to appoint Mandelson. On this basis, he proposed to ask Mandelson to resign from his post”.
It later says: “The prime minister was clear about his strong concern for Epstein’s victims.”
Starmer 'knew all he needed to know' before making 'bad choice' in appointing Mandelson, Tories say
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart claimed the prime minister “knew all he needed to know” when he appointed Mandelson as ambassador to the US, describing it as a “bad choice”.
Delivering the response to Jones’s statement on behalf of the Conservatives in the Commons, Burghart said:
It’s very clear that those (Epstein’s) victims were not in the prime minister’s mind when he appointed Peter Mandelson. The prime minister has already admitted that he knew Mandelson had maintained his friendship with Epstein even after the latter’s conviction for his terrible crimes.
That was a bad choice, and it’s a choice that we can now read about in black and white on page 11, where the prime minister was told, after Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009 to 2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was business minister, and continuing after the end of the Labour Government. Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s house while he was in jail in 2009.
Now, the prime minister claims that he was lied to. He wasn’t lied to by this due diligence document.
And it may be that Mandelson denied these claims, and if so, maybe the prime minister was lied to, but he was lied to by an inveterate liar who had been fired twice before, and we’re supposed to believe that the prime minister, who was once the chief prosecutor in this country, couldn’t see through this nonsense. It beggars belief.
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.
Updated
Mandelson 'should never have been appointed', says Jones
In further comments to the Commons about Mandelson being made ambassador to the US, Jones said he should “never have been appointed”.
He told MPs:
The victims of Epstein have lived with trauma that most of us can barely comprehend. They’ve had to relive it again and again, and they have had to see accountability delayed and too often denied.
We must all learn this hard lesson and a culture which dismisses women’s experiences far, far too often and too easily, Peter Manderson should never have been appointed.
Jones: Mandelson's request for £500,000 severance pay 'inappropriate and unacceptable'
Back in the Commons, Jones addressed the severance pay requested by Mandelson – more than £500,000 – saying it was “inappropriate and unacceptable”.
He said:
Peter Mandelson initially requested a sum that was substantially larger than the final payment, not just two or even three times, but more than six times the final amount.
Despite the fact that he was withdrawn from Washington because he had lost the confidence of the prime minister, the government obviously found that to be inappropriate and unacceptable. The settlement that was agreed was to avoid even higher further costs involving a drawn-out legal claim at the employment tribunal.
Updated
Mandelson suggested using Farage to 'better UK connections with Trump', documents reveal
Peter Mandelson suggested using Nigel Farage to “better UK connections with the Trump administration”, according to the files.
In the Cabinet Office due diligence report, included among the documents released by the government, Mandelson was quoted as saying of Farage: “You can’t ignore him, he’s an elected member of parliament. He’s a public figure. He’s a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others … National interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
Key event
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, updated the Commons on the release of government documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.
He said that while the documents “point to public reports of an ongoing relationship” between Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, “the advice did not expose the depth and extent of their relationship”, which only became apparent after the release “of further files” by Bloomberg and then the US justice department.
He said:
After the prime minister reviewed the Cabinet Office due diligence, that noted public reporting on Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, questions were put to Peter Mandelson by advisers in No 10 … and Peter Mandelson responded.
These are matters that are currently the subject of an ongoing police investigation and we will publish this document when the investigation allows.
When we do, the house will be able to see Peter Mandelson’s answers for themselves, which the prime minister regrets believing.
Updated
Peter Mandelson asked Foreign Office for £500k severance payment, files show
Peter Mandelson was offered a severance payment of £75,000 – having initially asked the Foreign Office to pay him more than £500,000 upon his sacking as US ambassador, newly released documents reveal.
Exchanges in the documents released by the Cabinet Office suggested that officials did “well to get this settlement down this low with minimal fuss”, after Mandelson was forced to resign as ambassador to the US because of newly disclosed details about his long friendship with the disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein.
The chief secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, signed off the £75,000 payment – a combination of payment in lieu of notice as well as a special severance deal of £34,670.50. Officials discussing the payment said Mandelson “opened negotiations asking us to pay out his contract (over £500k).” The full amount requested would have been £547,000.
Read the full report here:
National security adviser found Mandelson appointment 'weirdly rushed', according to documents
National security adviser Jonathan Powell found the appointment process “unusual” and “weirdly rushed”, the documents reveal.
In a segment titled “Record of call with National Security Adviser”, the documents summarised a phone call between Powell and Mike Ostheimer, the general counsel to the prime minister.
It said: “Jonathan Powell (JP) found the appointment process unusual of Lord Mandelson (LM) weirdly rushed.
“JP doesn’t recall any specific meetings on this that he was involved in, though there were a few conversations.
“JP raised concerns about the individual and reputation to Morgan McSweeney (MM).”
McSweeney resigned from his role of chief of staff to the prime minister last month over the Mandelson scandal.
The documents continued: “MM responded that the issues had been addressed.”
Mandelson asked for more than £500,000 severance pay, according to documents
Peter Mandelson asked for more than £500,000 severance pay but got £75,000, according to the newly released documents.
The files released by the government states that negotiations “began with a request by the individual [Mandelson] to pay out the remainder of the 4-year salary costs of the fixed term appointment. This would have amounted to £547,201.”
He received £75,000, made up of £40,330 pay in lieu of notice to cover the three months notice period in his contract and £34,670 special severance payment.
Under the heading “Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein”, the due diligence report noted:
A 2019 report commissioned by JPMorgan found that Epstein appeared to ‘maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew the Duke of York and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government’.
The report cited Epstein’s personal records which showed contact beginning in 2002 and continuing throughout the 2000s.
After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was business minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government. Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s House while he was in jail in June 2009.
In 2014 Mandelson also agreed to be a ‘founding citizen’ of an ocean conservation group founded by Ghislaine Maxwell, and funded by Epstein.
On reporting of the JP Morgan report, Lord Mandelson’s spokesperson said ‘Lord Mandelson very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein. This connection has been a matter of public record for some time. He never had any kind of professional or business relationship with Epstein in any form’.
A Labour Party spokesperson has previously commented saying “There are a whole range of people that Keir Starmer talks to. Obviously he talks to people who were part of the last Labour government, including Peter Mandelson.”
The report also pointed to a 2024 Telegraph report on the pair’s links.
It said: “The Cabinet Office holds official records that are likely to be released by the National Archives early next year, which relate to a Tony Blair meeting with Epstein that was facilitated by Mandelson.”
The due diligence report concluded: “To note – general reputational risk.”
Due diligence report warns 'general reputation risk' over Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, documents reveals
A due diligence report by the Cabinet Office on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US found there was a “general reputational risk” over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the documents reveal.
The due diligence report drawn up in December 2024 before his appointment noted a series of reports detailing his links with Epstein.
Here is one of those reports it detailed:
After Epstein was first convicted of procuring an underage girl in 2008, their relationship continued across 2009-2011, beginning when Lord Mandelson was Business Minister and continuing after the end of the Labour government. Mandelson reportedly stayed in Epstein’s House while he was in jail in June 2009.
First set of documents relating to Peter Mandelson published
The government has just published the first set of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.
Our team is reading through the documents, which are expected to relate to the process of his appointment as US ambassador in 2024. We will bring you the updates as they come.
Home secretary bans all processions related to Al Quds Day until 11 April
A ban on processions related to Al Quds Day will be in place until 11 April, home secretary Shabana Mahmood has told MPs.
In a statement to the Commons, she said:
My first duty is to keep the public safe, having carefully and thoroughly considered the risk ... assessment presented to me by the Metropolitan Police, I am satisfied that an order under section 13 is necessary.
For one month there will therefore be a prohibition on processions in London related to Al Quds Day by protesters and counter-protesters, which will come into effect today and will end on the 11th of April.
Should the commissioner consider a further extension is required, he will be able to make a further submission at that time.
It follows the home secretary banning a pro-Palestinian march in London on Sunday after police warned of a risk of “serious public disorder”.
The annual al-Quds Day march has drawn criticism over apparent backing for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed support for the country’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Some participants in the past have waved the flag of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which is banned in the UK as a terrorist group.
Keir Starmer has attacked Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage over their stance on the war in Iran, accusing both of U-turning on their support for Donald Trump.
At a raucous prime minister’s questions, Starmer accused the leader of the opposition of making the “mother of all U-turns” and furiously trying to backpedal after she denied calling for the UK to join the US president’s war on Iran on Tuesday, after previously saying Starmer should do more to “stop the people who are attacking us”.
Last week Badenoch repeatedly pressed Starmer on his decision not to launch offensive strikes to destroy missile bases, asking: “Why is he asking our allies to do what we should be doing ourselves?”
On Wednesday, Starmer said: “If I’d asked her last week, her position would be, we support the initial strikes and we want to join the war. This week, she says, we don’t want to join the war.
“That is the mother of all U-turns on the single most important decision a prime minister ever has to take, whether to commit the United Kingdom to war or not.”
To cheers from his own backbenchers, he added: “She has utterly disqualified herself from ever becoming prime minister, thankfully she never will.”
That concludes PMQs, with fuel duty and the war in Iran dominating the session today.
Starmer accused Badenoch of rowing back on calls for the UK to join the US in striking Iran, reminding her again and again of the comments she made last week about the British military “just hanging around” in the Middle East. He appeared confident in saying that he has made the right decisions so far on the conflict, which are in step with public opinion.
Answering questions on the cost of petrol, Starmer said fuel duty will remain frozen until September and will be “kept under review in light of what’s happening in Iran”, although he is under pressure to cancel it amid rising oil prices caused by the war.
We are expecting the Mandelson documents this afternoon, follow us here to get the latest lines.
Updated
Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) mentioned the Mandelson documents that are due to be released later today, saying they will bring to light “for the first time UK institutional knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein and those associated with him”.
She added that in the UK “we have our own Epstein, and Mohamed Al Fayed and the institutions that supported his crimes”.
Al Fayed, who died in 2023 aged 94, is the former owner of Harrods accused of sexually abusing women and girls over nearly four decades.
Chamberlain said the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for survivors of Al Fayed welcomed the actions of the Metropolitan police, “but we continue to call on them to describe those crimes as what they were trafficking”. She asked if the prime minister recognised that characterisation.
He responded:
I’m very happy to meet the APPG and the victims. I think it’s very important to do so. She’ll know there’s an ongoing police investigation, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have the meeting and listen to those that need to be listened to.
Updated
Starmer asked if bombing of Iranian school was a war crime
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said Trump’s war in Iran “is illegal” and that the situation unfolding in the Middle East “is verging on insane”.
He asked the prime minister:
He’ll have seen the same footage I have of an American Tomahawk missile landing on a primary school, killing 110 children. Does he believe that to be a war crime?
This is in reference to a girls school in the town of Minab in southern Iran, which was hit by a missile on the first day of the US-Israeli bombing campaign against the country.
Starmer responded:
We’re all concerned by that footage. But let me be absolutely clear with him. We have 300,000 UK nationals, including Scottish citizens, in the region. Strikes, missiles and drones are being fired into the region, putting them at great danger.
We are taking action to protect them.
Updated
Starmer asked to guarantee no big rise in energy bills
Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said families across the country have seen petrol prices rise at the pump, mortgage rates go up and fixed new deals get more expensive “all because of a war they did not start and do not support”.
He said:
The leader of the Conservatives has been competing with the honourable member for Clacton [Nigel Farage] to be Donald Trump’s biggest cheerleader, and the prime minister was right to reject their costly warmongering.
I asked him to guarantee the energy bills won’t rise by hundreds of pounds in July. He didn’t answer. So let me try again. Will he give people that energy bill guarantee now?
Starmer said he is working with the sector and allies “to do everything we can to make sure those energy bills don’t rise”.
He said:
We’re working around the clock on that. The most important thing, the most effective thing we can do is to work with our allies to find a way to de-escalate the situation.
He took the opportunity to take a swipe at Badenoch again and at Reform, saying they were “urging to join” the war in Iran.
“If they had been leading the country, we’d be in a war,” he said.
Updated
Answering Badenoch’s question about fuel duty, Starmer said it is going to “remain frozen until September”.
Badenoch asked about HMS Dragon - which departed the UK yesterday and will take five days to reach the Mediterranean – saying it would have left a week ago if she was prime minister.
Starmer said the ship has been “carefully being loaded with the anti-strike ammunition and capability that it needs, and the navy and civilians have been working 22-hour shifts in relation to it”.
He again points to Badenoch’s comments to the BBC last week suggesting the British military had been “just hanging around” in the Middle East as the Iran crises deepens, and says she should apologise.
Updated
Starmer told the Commons that Badenoch has abandoned her position on the UK joining the war in Iran.
“She told the BBC I haven’t said we should have gone in with the United States,” he said.
“That is the mother of all U-turns – on the single most important decision a prime minister ever has to take, whether it’s the United Kingdom to war or not.”
Updated
Starmer says Badenoch 'abandoned her position' after initial support for Iran strikes
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch began by asking: “Why does the prime minister think now is the right time to increase the cost of petrol?”
Starmer responds by saying the UK is taking necessary measures to deal with the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
“But the best thing that we can do, is to work with others to de-escalate the situation,” he said.
“As I said to the House last week, I took the decision that we should not join the initial US Israeli offensive against Iran.
“The leader of the opposition attacked me for that decision relentlessly. She said that the UK should have joined the US and Israel in the initial offensive strikes.
“And yesterday, in the wake of the economic consequences, the leader of the opposition totally abandoned her position.”
Updated
Starmer begins by telling the Commons that the armed forces are working day and night to protect British lives in the Middle East.
The prime minister thanked them for their “courage and for their professionalism”.
Updated
Starmer is about to begin PMQs, you can watch it on our live feed here:
Also this morning, a pro-Palestinian march in London on Sunday has been banned by Shabana Mahmood after police warned of a risk of “serious public disorder”.
The annual al-Quds Day march has drawn criticism over apparent backing for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed support for the country’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Some participants in the past have waved the flag of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which is banned in the UK as a terrorist group.
Announcing her decision to ban the march after a request by the Metropolitan police, Mahmood said she was “satisfied doing so is necessary to prevent serious public disorder, due to the scale of the protest and multiple counterprotests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”.
Read the full report here:
Keir Starmer is pictured leaving 10 Downing Street as he makes his way to Prime Minister’s Questions, which begins at 12pm.
We will bring you all the latest lines so do follow along here.
As reported by Nadeem Badshah this morning, the documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US expected to be released today will include a due diligence report by the Cabinet Office, which is believed to be two pages long.
It is likely to raise questions about Keir Starmer’s judgment, with sources saying it had warned the prime minister of the serious “reputational risk” of going ahead with Mandelson’s appointment in December 2024 given his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Officials said the document could prove “very difficult” for Starmer and warned that his response at the time – reportedly asking former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, a friend of Mandelson, to seek an explanation from him about its contents – could be seen as “completely inadequate”.
You can read this morning’s preview of this story here:
Witkoff: UK support for US military action 'a little too late'
Britain’s support for US military action against Iran came “a little too late” but Keir Starmer’s relationship with Donald Trump can be repaired, according to one of the president’s closest confidants, Steve Witkoff.
The comments by Witkoff, who has been Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, come after a series of public broadsides by the US leader against the prime minister an the UK’s position on American and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Starmer sought to repair fractured relations on Sunday in a telephone call with Trump, after the latter had declared on social media “we don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won”.
That comment came days after Trump had complained that Starmer “took far too long” to allow US forces to use UK airbases, and later commented witheringly about Starmer to reporters: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
However, Witkoff said in an interview with GB News:
He has said, as you know that it is a little bit – it does fall into the category of too little too late, but I think they have a good, solid relationship, and hopefully they’ll be able to repair it. I go by what the president says, and the president says continuously that everybody is entitled to their point of view. But I think sometimes we detect that there’s not that feeling of gratitude.
I think the president’s position is that we do plenty for Europe, plenty for the UK, in the area of trade, in the area of defence, in the area of the support we give to Nato. And I think sometimes the response back, the reciprocity back, is a little bit lacking. I would leave it at that, OK?
Updated
Trade disruption from Iran war 'not good for British economy', says Reeves
While we wait for the Mandelson documents, the chancellor has told MPs it is “certainly not good for the British economy to have trade disrupted” due to the Iran war.
Appearing before the Commons Treasury committee, Rachel Reeves said it would be “unwise to speculate” about the impact of the Iran war on inflation, growth or interest rates, but added that the Treasury is “looking at a number of scenarios”, the PA news agency reported.
“It’s certainly not good for the British economy to have trade disrupted, and especially when so much oil and gas comes from that part of the world,” Reeves told MPs.
“But the best thing that we can do as a government is to seek to de-escalate this conflict.”
Reeves said the UK stands ready to release strategic oil reserves as part of a broader international effort to curb the surge in crude prices.
“I’ve been very clear that the UK is willing to play its part in using those reserves to put downward pressure on oil prices and ensure that supply remains strong,” she said.
“We’re working closely with both our allies in the Gulf and in the G7 and also with the insurance industry to ensure that as quickly as possible we can get those movements going again.”
Updated
Student loans system 'a mess', says Clegg
Meanwhile, Nick Clegg, the politician who enabled the current system of university tuition fees and student loans in England, has now described it as “a mess”.
The former Lib Dem leader, a key member of the coalition government that tripled tuition fees to £9,000 a year, is blaming later changes including freezing the graduate repayment threshold, which Clegg said has made the system “deeply unfair” and that graduates “quite rightly feel very sore”.
Clegg’s comments relate to Plan 2 loans for tuition fees and maintenance issued to undergraduates between 2012 and 2023. The earnings thresholds at which graduates start repaying those loans will be frozen at £29,385 between 2027 and 2030. Current students receive Plan 5 loans, which have a lower repayment threshold of £25,000 and are written off after 40 years rather than 30 under Plan 2.
Clegg told the BBC the government’s priority should be to restore a link between inflation and the graduate earnings threshold, so that the threshold rises over time. He also wants an independent body to oversee the terms of student loans.
Updated
Peter Mandelson was spotted leaving his home in London this morning as the government prepares to release documents relating to his appointment as ambassador to the US in 2024.
What are the Mandelson documents set to be released today?
As a reminder, here is what we know about the Mandelson documents set to be released today:
The documents relate to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US in December 2024, at a time when his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were publicly known.
Prime minister Keir Starmer sacked Mandelson from his Washington role last September after a trove of emails revealed the depth of his ties with Epstein.
Last month’s release of files relating to the investigation of Epstein by the US justice department showed that Mandelson maintained his relationship with Epstein after Epstein served a sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
Starmer admitted he knew of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein but said Mandelson had “lied repeatedly” to No 10 about the extent of that relationship.
MPs ordered the government to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to Epstein.
The documents being released today are the first batch of tens of thousands of files and will include correspondence between Cabinet Office, Downing Street and Foreign Office officials about Mandelson.
Mandelson was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office after allegations that he leaked confidential information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In other news, hereditary peerages will be abolished before the next king’s speech after a deal was struck granting life peerages to some Conservatives and cross-benchers losing their seats.
The upper chamber accepted a final draft of the House of Lords (hereditary peers) bill yesterday, marking the end of its passage through parliament and clearing the way for it to be added to the statute book.
Since 1999, up to 92 hereditary peers have been able to sit in the upper house and cast their votes in the lobbies but the bill effectively reduces this quota to zero.
Nadeem Badshah has more on this story here:
The timing of the documents’ release – following PMQs – has led to accusations from the Conservatives that Keir Starmer is attempting to “dodge questions” about Mandelson’s vetting and appointment.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said: “His fingers are all over this.
“He’s already admitted that he knew about Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Epstein when he appointed him.
“Time and again his judgment has been found wanting.”
'Big number' of documents to be released
Cabinet minister Darren Jones said a “big number” of documents will be released about Peter Mandelson’s appointment, Press Association reports, although it is only expected to be a fraction of the papers demanded by Parliament.
Last month, MPs ordered the government to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Keir Starmer has insisted Mandelson “lied repeatedly” to No 10 about his relationship with Epstein, before and during his tenure as ambassador.
The documents to be released today are those which have been cleared for publication by the police investigating Mandelson.
Mandelson was arrested on 23 February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, having been accused of passing sensitive information on to Epstein during his time as business secretary.
He was subsequently bailed, but later released from his bail conditions, although he remains under investigation.
Updated
Opening summary: Mandelson documents to be released after PMQs
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics with the news that the government is to release hundreds of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US later today.
The documents will not be released until after Prime Minister’s Questions, meaning MPs will not be able to directly press Keir Starmer on their contents.
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, has defended the timing of the release.
Jones, who will make a Commons statement to set out the release of the documents, said: “We were always teed up to report in early March with the first tranche of documents, which is what we’re doing this afternoon.
“Because I run the Cabinet Office, at the centre of government, it was always my responsibility to give those updates to the House of Commons and statements always come after Prime Minister’s Questions.”
He told Times Radio: “There will be a second tranche of documents that will come at a later stage.”
In other developments:
A pro-Palestinian march in London on Sunday has been banned by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, after police warned of a risk of “serious public disorder”. The annual Al Quds Day march has drawn criticism over apparent backing for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed support for the country’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
MPs voted 304 to 203 in favour of the courts and tribunals bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons. It includes measures to scrap some jury trials, remove the automatic right of appeal from magistrates courts and introduces a new criminal court.
Hereditary peerages will be abolished before the next king’s speech after a deal was struck granting life peerages to some Conservatives and cross-benchers losing their seats. On Tuesday evening the upper chamber accepted a final draft of the House of Lords (hereditary peers) bill, marking the end of its passage through parliament and clearing the way for it to be added to the statute book.
I’m afraid due to staffing constraints there will be no comments on the blog today. Many apologies for this.
