Another week, another scandal by Shane Bray

Here we go again. Another week, another scandal — this time involving Jeffrey Epstein’s “best pal” Peter Mandelson. I refuse to call him Sir. Given the circumstances, such a title feels grotesquely inappropriate. After all, Mandelson once scribbled “Yum Yum” in Epstein’s birthday book — a detail that, in hindsight, is chilling. And when Epstein was already a convicted sex offender, Mandelson still chose to correspond warmly with him.

On the eve of Epstein’s 2008 jail term, Mandelson wrote:

“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened… It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.”

That line — “it just could not happen in Britain” — is haunting. In one sense, Mandelson was right. The Crown Prosecution Service, under Keir Starmer’s leadership as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008–2013, failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile when given the chance. Two scandals, overlapping in time, both exposing profound failings in how powerful men were protected.

The deeper you connect the dots, the murkier it becomes. Mandelson’s closeness to Epstein is difficult to deny: the “best pal” note, the affectionate emails, the insistence on Epstein’s resilience. Even Prince Andrew might blush at such words — and we all know how completely Andrew’s ties to Epstein destroyed his public life, leaving him stripped of honours and effectively cast out by the royal family.

Starmer himself, in 2024, said police should pursue any serious claims about Prince Andrew “regardless of his status.” This is one of those rare occasions, I find myself in complete agreement with Keir Starmer — and I hope he applies the same principle to Mandelson. Because if Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was as deep as these messages suggest, the public deserves full transparency.

Any British politician linked to Epstein must be held accountable. The public has a right to know that those who govern them are not compromised by association with a shady cabal of child abuse.

Whether Mandelson can politically survive this week is highly doubtful. Although he has form as a canny operator he has resigned before when pressure mounted — perhaps resignation now comes naturally. But the scandal raises a bigger question: what happened to Starmer’s promise of “cleaner, honest politics”? Too often, he seems to follow Boris Johnson’s playbook — defending allies until the pressure is unbearable, then retreating. Once again Keir is found wanting with no political back bone and the qualities of leadership notably absent. Clean politics means swift accountability, not endless damage control and holding one’s position until the weight of scrutiny becomes unbearable.

If Starmer truly believed in a new kind of politics, he would let the public decide. The government he promised and the one he leads are worlds apart. We were sold the idea of cleaner politics, but that was a lie and an illusion.

Starmer knows his time — and that of his colleagues — is running out. After 14 years in opposition, countless defeats, his loveless landslide with less votes than Corbyn, can mean only one thing. And so, Labour clings to power not out of principle but out of fear of losing it again.

This is a government that will never put the country’s needs above its own survival, and never hold itself accountable to the British people. I still live in hope they will surprise me on this, but that hope feels futile. But of one thing I am certain of at 08:11 on 11 September 2025: Peter Mandelson will be gone by the end of this week. And then the clock will reset once more — until the next scandal inevitably erupts.

Image credit on front page: Wikimedia Commons

Shane Bray is Vice-Chair of Reform UK Godalming and Ash branch.