THE FUSE

"I am a fighter not a quitter", Peter Mandelson famously declared when he retained his Hartlepool seat in the 2001 election.

This followed not one but two cabinet resignations from the then New Labour government - first, over a substantial undeclared loan from a fellow minister and secondly, over contacting a Home Office minister about a passport application from a wealthy Indian businessman who had helped fund the contents of the Millennium Dome (now the O2).

Mandelson had his front-rank political career resurrected three times subsequently: as an EU commissioner; as business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister to Gordon Brown in 2009, and as ambassador to Washington in 2025.

That third resignation - or, more accurately, sacking - is almost certainly going to be his last.

While the previous tranche of the Epstein files focussed on whether it was politically and personally unwise for Lord Mandelson to continue to associate with a convicted paedophile, the latest revelations raise questions about his conduct in office in 2009 and 2010.

Even if Epstein had committed no crimes, it would still be a hugely serious matter for the then business secretary apparently to pass a foreign financier sensitive and potentially advantageous government information.

The SNP, the Lib Dems, Reform UK - and some prominent Labour politicians - believe this is worthy of criminal investigation.

But it may well be his one time political ally and occasional political foe becomes his nemesis.

In his statement on Monday, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has declared his shock at the latest revelations and has called for a wide-ranging, intensive Whitehall inquiry into the disclosure of government documents - and for its findings to be made public.

Lord Mandelson has been approached for comment.

But Brown's statement isn't entirely helpful for the current prime minister.

Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure from opposition politicians to order an inquiry in to how Lord Mandelson was appointed as US ambassador in the first place.

In an attempt to get on the front foot today, the prime minister said there would be an urgent investigation into Lord Mandelson's links with Epstein while he was a minister in the last Labour government.

But it now transpires that Gordon Brown had asked the cabinet secretary to undertake a similar exercise as long ago as last September - although it unearthed nothing.

And that may solidify further the criticism from the opposition - and from some inside the Labour Party - that Sir Keir has been too slow to act.

When Lord Mandelson was turfed out of Washington last September, Downing Street said that was because the "extent and depth" of his relationship with Epstein hadn't been previously known.

While new depths now appear to have been plumbed, the question of why some more wasn't known or discovered before his appointment will not go away.

Without approving that appointment, any historical revelations about Lord Mandelson would have been unlikely to have risked political damage to the prime minister directly.

In retrospect, Sir Keir must be wishing the self-declared political fighter had become a quitter many years ago.

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