UK vetting questioned Mandelson’s links to figures in China, Russia and Israel

A data dump exposes Labour’s courtier politics. But it still does not explain why the peer was cleared to be US ambassadorThe Epstein files fatally damaged Peter Mandelson. Gone was his reputation as Westminster’s great survivor: the politician who could weather any scandal and return to the centre of power. Allegations that he leaked market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after the financial crash led to a criminal investigation. The peer was sacked as Britain’s US ambassador. He denies any wrongdoing.Yet the “humble address” files also damage the government. The hundreds of emails, notes and social media conversations, released on Monday, mostly show an unsurprising version of Lord Mandelson – wheedling, criticising and positioning himself as the man who knows the court. Parliament asked to see why he was allowed into one of the most sensitive jobs in the British state. The government has shown us what he said once he got there. That is not the same thing. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Papers to be published on Monday cast doubt on assurances provided by senior Whitehall officialsEmbarrassing WhatsApps, but no vetting report: what will be in the new release of Mandelson files?A trove of government documents about Peter Mandelson contains no record of any measures taken to mitigate serious security concerns over his appointment as Washington ambassador, the Guardian has learned.Multiple sources who have seen or been briefed on the files, which will be published on Monday, say there is no detail about any steps put in place to deal with flags raised about his associations with senior figures in foreign states. Continue reading...

The first mistake was appointing the peer despite his links to Jeffrey Epstein. The next would be claiming his security risks were properly managedIt is telling that the person who first floated the idea of Peter Mandelson as the next UK ambassador to America was probably himself. He seems to have looked at his global contacts and thought: this is why I’m useful. Whitehall’s security vetters, UKSV, looked at the same contacts and thought: this is why he’s not. The latest revelations illustrate something rotten about modern politics. What the wealthy and connected think makes them an asset is exactly what makes them a risk.In late 2024, Lord Mandelson was announced as the UK’s ambassador to Washington by Sir Keir Starmer. That posting ended in disgrace last year after US files exposed the depth of his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But UKSV advised against giving security clearance to Lord Mandelson, flagging concerns over links to China’s finance minister, a sanctioned Russian oligarch, a former Israeli military intelligence chief and a British individual described as potentially compromising, as well as a £1m loan connected to an Israeli startup investment.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Mandelson links to former head of Israel's military intelligence directorate revealed The UK government's vetting agency raised Peter Mandelson's associations with senior figures in Israel, China and Russia in denying the then-peer and former cabinet minister security clearance to be the ambassador to the US, it has emerged. Mandelson lost his job as British ambassador to the US last September and was stripped of his peerage earlier this year after details emerged of his close friendship with the late American paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Since then Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has faced enormous scrutiny and criticism over the decision to appoint Mandelson as ambassador to the US in 2024. Earlier this year it was revealed that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) had concluded Mandelson should be denied security clearance, but the Foreign Office permanent secretary granted it anyway. The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that UKSV found Mandelson had links to a former Israeli military intelligence general, Tamir Hayman.  Hayman was the head of Israel's military intelligence directorate from 2018 to 2021 and is now director of a Tel Aviv-based think tank called the Institute for National Security Studies (INNS). Read more: Mandelson links to former head of Israel's military intelligence directorate revealed Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, walks his dog near his residence in central London on 20 April 2026 (AFP)

Mandelson links to former head of Israel's military intelligence directorate revealed Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 05/28/2026 - 11:14 Tamir Hayman and Mandelson spoke bimonthly, UK government vetting reportedly found, while the former ambassador took a $1m loan to buy Israeli company shares Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, walks his dog near his residence in central London on 20 April 2026 (AFP) Off The UK government's vetting agency raised Peter Mandelson's associations with senior figures in Israel, China and Russia in denying the then-peer and former cabinet minister security clearance to be the ambassador to the US, it has emerged. Mandelson lost his job as British ambassador to the US last September and was stripped of his peerage earlier this year after details emerged of his close friendship with the late American paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Since then Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has faced enormous scrutiny and criticism over the decision to appoint Mandelson as ambassador to the US in 2024. Earlier this year it was revealed that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) had concluded Mandelson should be denied security clearance, but the Foreign Office permanent secretary granted it anyway. The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday that UKSV found Mandelson had links to a former Israeli military intelligence general, Tamir Hayman.  Hayman was the head of Israel's military intelligence directorate from 2018 to 2021 and is now director of a Tel Aviv-based think tank called the Institute for National Security Studies (INNS). Hayman has previously said that while he was head of the directorate, it encouraged the United States to assassinate Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.  UKSV reportedly found that Mandelson and Hayman spoke bimonthly. The INNS told the Guardian that Hayman had "no personal connection or familiarity whatsoever" with Mandelson, but that before he became ambassador Mandelson took part in an "external advisory framework" at the think tank. Labour government facing mounting scrutiny UKSV also found that Mandelson had taken a £1m loan from an unnamed businessman to acquire shares in an Israeli company called Moon Active. The company is behind the popular mobile phone game Coin Master. Middle East Eye reported in February that Epstein asked former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to task Mandelson with selling Israel's largest fuel company, Paz Oil Company, in 2013. In September 2013, Mandelson also asked Epstein to consult Barak on what he thought of an Israeli political consultant called Asaf Eisin. Mandelson: How decades of influence secured role as Starmer's man in Washington Read More » Mandelson also reportedly had links to Chinese and Russian figures, which UKSV flagged as causes for concern.  One of these were China’s minister of finance, Lan Fo’an, who reportedly spoke to Mandelson several times a year and has met Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves on separate occasions in the past two years. This has raised questions over whether Mandelson as ambassador to the US was involved in those meetings. UKSV further flagged Mandelson's well-documented friendship with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. It emerged earlier this year that in 2010 Mandelson asked Deripaska to help secure a visa for Epstein to visit Moscow. This comes as the government is under increasing pressure to comply with a recent parliamentary motion ordering the release of papers relating to Mandelson's appointment. Parliament's intelligence and security committee accused the government of withholding some of the relevant documents earlier this month.  A new tranche of Mandelson files is set to be released next month.  A government spokesperson said on Thursday the government is "committed to complying" with the parliamentary motion "in full". UK Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Vetting of former UK ambassador to Washington warned of ties to senior figures in China, Russia and IsraelA former head of MI6 has said it would have been “totally impossible” for the Foreign Office to put in place mitigations to manage Peter Mandelson’s associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel when he was the UK’s ambassador to the US.On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed some of the concerns that contributed to security officials recommending that Mandelson be denied developed vetting clearance in early 2025. Continue reading...