Peter Mandelson

Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953), is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004 and served in the Cabinets of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Minister without portfolio, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Business Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as British Ambassador to the United States from February to September 2025 under Keir Starmer.

A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson served as its director of communications from 1985 to 1990 during the leadership of Neil Kinnock, becoming one of the first people to whom the term "spin doctor" was applied and being nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness" because of his "ruthless" and "media-savvy" reputation.^[1] Although sidelined during John Smith's leadership from 1992 to 1994, Mandelson became close to Blair and Brown. Mandelson was one of several key individuals responsible for the rebranding of the Labour Party as New Labour before its victory at the 1997 general election under Blair, to whom he had become a trusted ally and adviser. He was also heavily involved in the 2001 general election, famously delivering his "I'm a fighter, not a quitter" speech, but was not a member of the government at the time, having resigned a few months earlier.

Mandelson served as Business Secretary, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and again from 2008 to 2010, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2001 as well as First Secretary of State and Lord President of the Council from 2009 to 2010. He was European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008 and MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, before being elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2008 to serve in the Brown cabinet as Business Secretary in 2008, a move that surprised many due to his long-standing political rivalry with Brown. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, Mandelson co-founded the lobbying firm Global Counsel and remained active in Labour politics in the years preceding their return to office at the 2024 general election, having been an adviser to Starmer for a few years prior, and was described as having a "significant influence" on Starmer's office as a "core part" of his political network. During his short tenure as British Ambassador, Mandelson focused on promoting trade and fostering relationships with the US government during the second presidency of Donald Trump.

Mandelson has been involved in several scandals, which resulted in him twice resigning from the Cabinet and being dismissed from his ambassadorial office in 2025. He bought a home in 1996 partly with an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a Cabinet colleague whose business dealings were subject to an inquiry by Mandelson's department. Mandelson contended that he had deliberately not partaken in any decisions relating to Robinson. He had not declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests and resigned in December 1998. In January 2001 he again resigned from the government following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application. In September 2025, a scandal occurred surrounding Mandelson's association with the convicted sex offenders and traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which had previously been revealed in 2019. He faced repeated calls to resign as ambassador to the US following published communications regarding his association with Epstein; he was dismissed by Starmer following mounting criticism. There is no suggestion that Mandelson ever met Virginia Giuffre or sought or was offered introductions to women from Epstein; his appointment was irrespectively criticised by Giuffre's family.

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