Mandelson should hand back US ambassador payout, says cabinet minister | Peter Mandelson

A cabinet minister has called on Peter Mandelson to return the payment he received after leaving his post as US ambassador last year, as pressure mounts for the prime minister to resign for appointing him in the first place.

Social Welfare Minister Pat McFadden said on Sunday he thought Labor should give back the salary it receives from the Secretary of State. It was reported that Up to £55,000. It was learned that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was examining the payment.

Mandelson left his post as ambassador to Washington last year after more details emerged about his relationship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This week he said he would stand down from the House of Lords after the publication of more documents showing the relationship between the two men was closer than previously thought.

Mandelson reportedly received a payment worth three months’ salary when he resigned in September on Sunday, and McFadden said he should return it or donate it to charity.

“I think Peter should think about it and either return it or donate it to an appropriate charity,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

The Foreign Office said: “Peter Mandelson’s civil service employment was terminated in accordance with legal advice and the terms and conditions of employment.”

The Ministry is understood to be reviewing the payment; but authorities believed at the time that they had no legal option but to pay.

McFadden was a close ministerial ally of Mandelson in the last Labor government, working as his deputy in the business department. He said he knew nothing about his former boss’s relationship with Epstein and said he was appalled by emails showing Mandelson had passed sensitive government information to the late US financier.

“This is someone I thought I knew well, from whom I have sought political advice over the years, but when I look at the emails that have been released over the last two weeks, I see that there is a side of it that I know nothing about,” he said.

McFadden insisted Starmer should remain in his post despite mounting pressure on the prime minister following the latest revelations.

“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the country to change prime ministers every 18 months or every two years,” he said. “There is an economic cost, there is a trust cost, there is an international reputation cost.”

Fire Brigades Union chief Steve Wright on Sunday became the first boss of a Labor union to call on the prime minister to stand down.

“I think we need to see change,” he told the BBC.

“I think 18 months ago the public wanted to see this change but we’re not seeing it, we’re just seeing a continuation of what happened before. I think it needs to be a change of leadership and I think MPs should be calling for that as well.”

Meanwhile, many MPs are agitating for Starmer to fire his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who has personally pressured Mandelson to be given a job in Washington.

Rosena Allin-Khan, Labor MP for Tooting, said on Sunday: “Someone needs to take responsibility and a lot of the responsibility should fall on the people making the recommendations [Starmer]. It is known that there is a men’s club at number 10, consisting of people who think they can act and give advice with impunity. And it didn’t turn out so well.”

Another Labor MP added: “The idea of ​​letting Morgan resign makes the Prime Minister look even weaker. He must sack him or he will go down with Morgan. The longer he leaves, the more likely it will be the latter.”