The security concerns that led the UK’s vetting agency to recommend against granting Lord Mandelson security clearance for his appointment as British ambassador to the United States included his ties to China’s finance minister, a sanctioned Russian oligarch and a former head of Israeli military intelligence, according to a report by The Guardian.
The nine-page summary produced by UK Security Vetting in January last year flagged Lord Mandelson’s links to Lan Fo’an — China’s finance minister since 2023, who greeted Sir Keir Starmer on the runway during the Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing in January this year — noting the two men had spoken several times a year, though not in the 12 months before the vetting process began. Also identified were Mandelson’s ties to Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire sanctioned by the UK Government following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, whose controversial friendship with the peer has been publicly known for nearly two decades.
The third flagged relationship was with Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate and current director of the Institute of National Security Studies thinktank in Tel Aviv, with whom Lord Mandelson is reported to have spoken on a bimonthly basis. UKSV is also said to have raised concerns about a £1 million loan Lord Mandelson received from a businessman to acquire shares in Moon Active, a Tel Aviv-based online gaming company. A fourth individual — described as British — was said to have had a “very close relationship” with the peer that UKSV considered potentially compromising.
Despite this advice, the Foreign Office granted Lord Mandelson clearance anyway. Sir Keir subsequently sacked his top Foreign Office official, Olly Robbins, for failing to disclose the security concerns to ministers. Business Secretary Peter Kyle acknowledged that “political considerations” about Lord Mandelson’s “outstanding singular talents” meant security concerns were overridden.
The saga deepened further when Lord Mandelson was arrested in February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations about emails appearing to show him passing privileged and market-sensitive information to Epstein during the financial crisis. He has denied criminal wrongdoing and has not been charged. Sir Keir had initially sacked him as ambassador in September last year after emails emerged showing Mandelson had maintained a close relationship with the convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein for many years.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has now entered the row, with its chair Lord Beamish claiming some documents relating to the appointment are being “withheld” from MPs and that the Government is redacting files “too broadly.” The Cabinet Office said it was committed to full compliance with a parliamentary motion demanding the release of the Mandelson files, with a second batch of documents expected next month.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “The fact that the Government is still trying to hide the truth when it comes to Mandelson is an utter disgrace. No 10 knew full well about Mandelson’s business relationships with China and Russia, and indeed with Jeffrey Epstein too. Glaring warning signs were wilfully ignored, driven by a desperate desire to pander to the bully in the White House rather than protect British interests.”
The revelations are yet another blow to Sir Keir Starmer, who is already fighting for his political future following Labour’s dismal local election results and the wave of ministerial resignations that have destabilised his government in recent weeks.
