Former Labour safeguarding minister Jess Phillips says she threatened to quit government multiple times after Keir Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. Phillips, speaking to BBC Newsnight, links her objections to Mandelson’s well-known ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein. She said she felt “hurt, and upset, and anger” when she learned of the appointment, and described privately being “horrified.” Phillips said she faced an internal choice about whether to “shout” or to direct her anger toward work on violence against women and girls policy, describing her approach as using the moment to push for improvements in the strategy. She said she “made demands” to Starmer to prevent her resignation and also had “conversations I won’t repeat.”
She later resigned as a minister earlier this month and wrote to Starmer that, while she believes he “cares about the right things,” she does not think there is sufficient change. Separate reporting says Mandelson was sacked in September 2025 after documents showed the extent of his friendship with Epstein, and that he quit Labour earlier this year amid further revelations and is under Metropolitan Police investigation; he denies wrongdoing. Multiple outlets report Phillips’s threats to resign were repeated before she ultimately stood down.
