Welsh Government review finds no risk to business from Mandelson-Epstein links
The Welsh Government has published a review finding its records contain nothing posing a risk to the conduct of government business from Peter Mandelson’s connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The review was commissioned by First Minister Eluned Morgan MS following a letter from Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth MS in February, in which he asked her to investigate any dealings the Welsh Government may have had with Mandelson during his official government roles.
It was carried out by the Welsh Government’s Permanent Secretary and Propriety and Ethics Team and published on Tuesday as a Cabinet Statement.
Mandelson served as Business Secretary between 2008 and 2010, during which time the Welsh Government corresponded with him about Airbus Broughton and other industrial matters.
He was appointed UK Ambassador to the United States in February 2025 but was dismissed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September 2025 after reports emerged that he had maintained a friendship with Epstein following Epstein’s 2008 conviction for sex offences.
Further allegations surfaced in February 2026 that Mandelson and his husband had received payments from Epstein and that in 2009 and 2010 he had passed sensitive government information to Epstein.
The Metropolitan Police opened an investigation and Mandelson was subsequently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, then released on bail pending further investigation.
He later resigned from the Labour Party and from the House of Lords.
The Welsh Government review searched more than 2,500 electronic and paper records going back to 2008, including emails, paper files and First Minister mailboxes.
After removing duplicates and ephemera, around 1,000 items were individually inspected.
That inspection found 48 documents containing correspondence with Mandelson or references to him in internal communications.
The review described those items as “either not significant or reflect the normal course of business, and are unexceptional.”
The review also searched the US Department of Justice Epstein Library using terms connected to the Welsh Government and the Senedd.
One item was found.
On 23 July 2009, a message in the Epstein Library recorded Mandelson writing: “Travelling back to London from Cardiff. Urgent? Or call u on return.”
Epstein replied: “call me when you get a chance.”
The review states the occasion was a meeting of the UK Cabinet held in Cardiff, at which the then Prime Minister announced the electrification of the railway line between London and Cardiff.
Mandelson was in Cardiff that day in his capacity as Business Secretary.
The review found no connection between the exchange and Welsh Government business.
The Epstein Library was also searched using terms drawn from Welsh Government records, including Airbus Broughton, where Mandelson as Business Secretary had corresponded with Welsh Government officials about the wing manufacturing facility in 2009.
No results linking Airbus Broughton to Epstein or to Mandelson were found in those files.
Welsh Government records did include correspondence about Airbus between officials and Mandelson covering discussions ahead of the 2009 Paris Airshow announcement and exchanges with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
The review said those items reflected normal business between the Welsh Government and a UK minister with trade and industry responsibilities.
The review also found no record of any contact or payments between the Welsh Government and Global Counsel, the lobbying firm Mandelson co-founded after Labour lost the 2010 general election.
During Mandelson’s time as UK Ambassador to the United States, the review identified three contact points with the Welsh Government.
These included an introductory video call with the First Minister in January 2025, a possible brief encounter at a Department for Business and Trade reception in March 2025 which a Welsh Government official in Los Angeles could not confirm had taken place, and Mandelson’s occasional presence chairing Embassy Monday morning meetings attended by Welsh Government staff.
The review found no substantive exchanges between Mandelson and Welsh Government officials at those meetings.
The Permanent Secretary’s report acknowledged the review came with a caveat: “We cannot guarantee that we have found every communication with Mr Mandelson which might exist, or did exist, on Welsh Government records.”
Some of the earliest records have been destroyed under normal records management procedures, the report stated.
The review was conducted by the Welsh Government’s own Propriety and Ethics Team, not by an independent body.
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