Andy Burnham urged to remove Peter Mandelson's lord title within month of becoming PM
SNP MP Seamus Logan said it would be “a betrayal of the public” for the expected next prime minister to “kick the Mandelson issue into the long grass”.
Andy Burnham has been urged to remove Peter Mandelson’s lord title in his first month in office.
SNP MP Seamus Logan said it would be “a betrayal of the public” for the expected next prime minister to “kick the Mandelson issue into the long grass”.
Lord Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords earlier this year after it emerged he had leaked confidential government information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
He was sacked as US ambassador in 2025 - less than a year after being appointed - when it came to light that he had maintained a relationship with the sex offender after he had been convicted.
But despite no longer being a peer, he still retains the Lord Mandelson title.
Aberdeenshire North and Moray East MP Mr Logan said removing it should be one of the things Mr Burnham if he becomes prime minister, as expected, later this month.
Mr Logan said: “Peter Mandelson should never have been near power, yet successive Labour Party leaders put Mandelson in positions of immense responsibility, which he abused for his own rotten ends.
"Keir Starmer showed appalling judgement in appointing Mandelson to the highest diplomatic office in these islands despite knowing he had maintained his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the world's most notorious paedophile, and had been forced out of government numerous times in the past due to his part in scandals.
"We now know Mandelson repeatedly abused his position in government by sharing highly-confidential, market-sensitive UK government information with Jeffrey Epstein, with further reports this week that Mandelson was a Russian intelligence contact for over thirty years.
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“The fact that Mandelson has kept his peerage throughout this shocking episode, and was allowed by Starmer to retire from the House of Lords rather than being kicked out, should shame the Labour Party – not to mention the £75,000 tax-payer funded payoff Mandelson received from Starmer's government.
“Andy Burnham cannot kick the Mandelson issue into the long grass – this cannot remain yet another promise the Labour Party has failed to keep. He must now set out clearly that he intends to strip Mandelson of his titles, and do so within his first month as Prime Minister.
“If Burnham fails strip Mandelson of his honours it will be a betrayal of the public, and a betrayal of the brave victims of Jeffrey Epstein who have been so badly failed by the Labour Party.
"This entire sorry episode shows, once again, just how broken the Westminster system is – and the scale of the clear out needed right across this scandal-hit Labour government."
Lord Mandelson passed sensitive information to Epstein during the global financial crash, when he was Business Secretary in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet.
He has since been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office by the Metropolitan Police and has been granted bail.
The Mandelson scandal has been one of the most damaging things which have happened during Sir Keir Starmer’s time in office.
He appointed Lord Mandelson to the US ambassador role despite him resigning twice from cabinet in disgrace in the past. There had already been reports about his relationship with Epstein before he was given the job.
Mr Burnham is expected to become prime minister later this month after Sir Keir said he would step down.
Mr Burnham’s team were approached for comment.
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