Nobody expects their politicians to be perfect. Nobody truly believes that all political marriages survive the hothouse environment of SW1 or that nobody in politics cheats on their partners. Few people if they were honest about these matters would believe that an injudicious business decision or a failed marriage or getting caught out cottaging for example should permanently end a politician’s career. We are all too human and so are our politicians.
However what about those politicians who continue to make moral and ethical errors and continue to make them until they are caught and forced to resign? What about those politicians who make errors, show bad judgement and have to resign then do it all again when they come back into government or administration after the scandal is over? They are a different category of politician I’m afraid. They are the politicians who don’t just make one grave error or even a couple of grave errors but continue to make these errors over and over again. These are the politicians who should be cast into the outer political darkness because they are a danger not just to themselves and those around them but to the image of politics as a whole.
One such politician who should have been cast into the outer political darkness long long ago is Lord Peter Mandleson. He’s had to resign or been sacked from positions or offices four times now and that should surely be enough to see him removed from any political influence altogether in Britain. Mandleson resigned two Cabinet posts after being caught out in dodgy mortgage dealings and with regards to applying for British passports for one of his chums. In September 2025 he was sacked from his position as UK Ambassador to the United States after becoming entrenched with the Jeffery Epstein scandal and only this month has resigned from the Labour Party over his worryingly close relationship with the American paedophile financier Epstein.
What appears to be coming out with regards Mandleson’s relationship with Epstein is astonishing and nauseating. It’s not just the long, friendly and close association with someone like Epstein that is a matter of concern but also Mandleson’s conduct during this association which appears to include passing information about UK government and political machinations on such matters as the Coalition negotiations in 2010 and detailing to Epstein what British assets should or could be sold off to pay for Britain’s economic problems. At a time when it might have been better that Mandleson kept quiet or was discreet about what was happening in UK government circles Mandleson felt it to be OK to be gossipy about what was going on to Epstein. Basically Mandleson leaked information to Epstein that should have remained secret. Who knows who in the finance world or on Wall Street might have benefited from Mandleson’s indiscrete mouth because it certainly doesn’t seem to have been Britain or the British economy. Mandleson when commenting on the economic issues that the Gordon Brown government was dealing with used the information he had garnered whilst in government to sell the country for a mess of pottage. Mandleson might have cost the country billions of pounds and he may have done that to either impress Epstein or to advantage himself.
In politics as in business it is sometimes unavoidable that you have to meet and even have dealings with some quite unpleasant people, just think of some of the political walking horrors that our late Queen used to have to welcome during state visits for example. In my working life I’ve had professional contacts with less than honest journalists, drunks in high places with power, ex-gangsters, dodgy politicians and bent cops. I was to a large extent able to deal with the dodgy people I had to deal with in certain jobs without getting my hands too dirty because I kept my distance from them as much as I could, even though some I worked with were quite happy to wallow in the dirt especially if it advantaged them financially or professionally. Mandleson on the other hand doesn’t seem to be able to keep any sort of necessary distance between the bad people that he has to meet and himself. Mandleson kept up close contact with Epstein even after he was convicted of sex offences and in some communications even appeared to be on Epstein’s side when it came to Epstein’ legal travails.
Trouble follows Mandleson wherever he goes, political trouble, financial trouble and he has shown extraordinarily poor judgement with regards to those with whom he chooses to be friends with, such as Epstein. He’s shown poor judgement as a Cabinet Minister and he should never have been allowed to become UK Ambassador to the USA whilst there were questions hanging over him regarding his relationship with Epstein.
As well as the nasty moral stain on Mandleson because of his relationship with Epstein, Mandleson also has created a problem for the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. After all it was Starmer who wanted Mandleson to be Ambassador to the USA despite a great deal of concern about Mandleson’s historical conduct whilst in the various offices he has held. This was a position that should have gone to a career diplomat not someone like Mandleson. Giving Mandleson this job calls the Prime Minister’s judgement into question as well.
This is one of those stories that is going to hang over not just Mandleson but also others in the Labour Government. This is because it is the Labour Party that tolerated Mandleson when he should have been properly cast out and the Labour Party who allowed Mandleson back into the fold when anyone with half a brain could have seen that it wasn’t a case of if there was going to be another scandal involving Mandleson on the horizon, but when such a scandal would break into the open.
Mandleson is not just a politician who has made mistakes or errors, one or two errors might be forgivable or something that could be worked around, he’s someone who has continually made bad decisions, shown bad judgement and who has tainted politics for decades. Mandleson’s behaviour clearly illustrates his regular conduct. He might have been useful to Labour once, especially during the Kinnock and early Blair years (the late John Smith when Labour leader froze Mandleson out of positions of influence) but not now, he’s just a massive millstone around the party’s neck.
Labour need to make a proper clean break between them and Mandleson. Labour need to make it clear and in no uncertain terms that he will never ever be allowed back into Labour nor have any sort of influence in Labour Party politics. Anything less than that will do Labour and British politics as a whole immense damage.