Peter Mandelson, once a towering figure in British politics and a key architect of New Labour, has found himself at the center of a storm after his televised appearance on the BBC’s flagship Sunday politics show, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, on January 11, 2026. This marked Mandelson’s first interview since being stripped of his post as the UK’s ambassador to the United States, a dramatic fall from grace prompted by revelations of his long-standing and deeper-than-admitted relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The controversy began in September 2025, when Stephen Doughty of the Foreign Office addressed the House of Commons. Doughty relayed that the prime minister had requested the foreign secretary to withdraw Mandelson from his ambassadorial role. The catalyst: the emergence of emails written by Mandelson that revealed the “depth and extent of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment,” according to National World.
Mandelson’s appearance on the BBC was billed as an “exclusive” opportunity for him to break his silence. The program’s panel was stacked with political heavyweights, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, but it was Mandelson’s segment that drew the most attention—and fury. For eight minutes, the show skirted around the elephant in the room before host Laura Kuenssberg finally confronted Mandelson about his links to Epstein, the disgraced American financier and convicted paedophile.
During the broadcast, Mandelson admitted, "It was a most terrible mistake on my part." He explained, “I believed the story he told in 2008 in his first indictment in Florida. I accepted his story and I wish I hadn’t.” He went further, saying, "I gave my support to somebody because I believed what he was telling me and it was misplaced loyalty." Yet Mandelson was quick to shift the focus away from himself, adding, "The crux of this is not me... The crux of this is that so many hundreds of young women were completely trapped, powerless.”
When pressed by Kuenssberg on whether he would apologize directly to Epstein’s victims, Mandelson said, “I want to apologise for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect. That system gave him protection and not them. If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise for it. But I was... I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable of what he was doing. I regret and will regret to my dying day the fact that powerless women were not given the protection they were entitled to expect.”
According to The National, Mandelson’s woes didn’t end with his sacking. Further documents revealed he had been in contact with Epstein as late as 2016 and that he had referred to Epstein as his “best pal” in emails supporting the billionaire during his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution. The scandal took a bizarre turn when Mandelson was reportedly caught urinating in public near former Tory chancellor George Osborne’s Mayfair townhouse in May 2025.
Despite the mounting allegations and public outrage, Mandelson remains a Labour peer in the House of Lords—a fact that has sparked fierce debate. Stephen Flynn, the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader, took to social media on January 10, 2026, to demand Mandelson be stripped of his peerage. “Lord Peter Mandelson will be on the BBC tomorrow. He should have been stripped of that title months ago. The fact this hasn’t happened is a stain on this deplorable Labour Government,” Flynn wrote on Twitter/X.
Labour MP John McDonnell also weighed in, criticizing the BBC for giving Mandelson a platform. “When Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson I said publicly it was a serious error of judgement. I’ve always been a supporter of the BBC in its role as a public broadcaster but the decision to invite Mandelson onto the Kuensberg programme calls into question once more its own judgment,” McDonnell said, echoing a sentiment shared by many on social media.
The backlash against both Mandelson and the BBC has been swift and unrelenting. Journalist Ross McAfferty remarked, “Even by the basement low standards of British political media discourse, Lord Mandelson getting back on the chummy old pals circuit months after resigning for lying about his intimate relationship with the world’s most notorious paedophile is comically on the nose.” Another social media user commented, “That Epstein’s chum, Peter Mandelson, hasn’t shrivelled from shame says much about his lack of character, but for the media to still be platforming his odious opinions after so many appalling scandals says even more about our ridiculous little country.”
Yet, for all the controversy swirling around his public life, Mandelson’s private life has also drawn attention. As National World reported, Mandelson married Reinaldo Avila da Silva at Old Marylebone Town Hall in 2023. At the time, Mandelson was 70 and Reinaldo 51. The couple’s wedding was attended by notable figures such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair and broadcaster Kate Garraway, along with her late husband Derek Draper, who had once worked as a researcher for Mandelson and died on January 3, 2024.
Mandelson and Avila da Silva met around thirty years ago when Avila da Silva was studying Japanese at the University of Oriental and African Studies in London. In a candid interview with The Times in October 2023, Mandelson reflected on the impact of marriage, saying, “I cannot speak for Reinaldo (I wouldn’t dare) but for most of my life I never thought it would be possible. If I am honest, I also did not realise how much difference being married would make in the emotional comfort and strength it brings.”
He also addressed the challenges of being a public figure and a gay man, noting, “My choice, as someone who was gay and with a high profile, was not to make my personal life and sexuality a secret, but to try to keep it private rather than in the public eye. It was a path that felt necessary at the time, but it caused endless problems and real distress.”
As the dust settles from Mandelson’s controversial interview and the calls for accountability grow louder, the episode serves as a stark reminder of the enduring complexities at the intersection of personal loyalty, public responsibility, and the relentless scrutiny of political life.