This article by W. Owl first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
WITH new revelations coming out every day it would been easier to name those who have not met Jeffrey Epstein. Those who up to now have not been named but were acquainted with him must be living in trepidation that they will be next.
The revelations about one individual, the ‘Prince of Darkness’ himself, Peter Mandelson, whose friendship with Epstein is threatening to overwhelm prime minister Starmer are like the proverbial pebble in the pond with ripples ending up far and wide. It is not surprising that some of those who shared intimate moments with Epstein and his generosity are now telling everybody that they wished they had never met him.
Solomon Hughes writing in the Morning Star (6th Feb 2026) highlights some of those in the Labour Party who are now trying to distance themselves from Mandelson with Starmer stating that “He has let the country down” yet it was he who appointed Mandelson as US ambassador.
Wes Streeting who seems to have designs on the party’s leadership says that Mandelson “fundamentally betrayed our values” but as Hughes points out it was Mandelson who helped write those “values.” His career follows the “New Labour” method he helped design, taking the side of the rich and big corporations, especially around low tax, deregulation and privatisation, taking favours from the rich while in office then taking lucrative jobs for the corporations they favoured in government when they leave office.
One reason for crushing the left in the party is because they were the people who would stop the party from being a launch pad for post-ministerial careers. Mandelson said that Epstein helped him set up a consultancy called Global Counsel which got him out of the world of politics and into “commerce and finance,” which, according to Hughes made him a multimillionaire by working for the corporations who benefited from the pro-business politics he made Labour take in government.
This basic “New Labour” pattern showed that when ministers stood down, many joined the private corporations they helped while in power, with ex-ministers taking jobs with privatised water companies, private security firms like G4S arms firms and so on.
As these jobs paid more than any ministerial position this became an incentive to push pro-business polices, even if they were wildly unpopular. Hughes he then tells us that Starmer brought back Mandelson with all his “New Labour” values and believes that Starmer’s team will also leave government for corporate jobs just like Mandelson.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting has rehired Alan Milburn as an adviser. He was health secretary in the Blair government and when he stood down in 2004 he took a job with Bridgepoint Capital, an investment firm that owned health companies. He was involved in the privatisation of the NHS. One Bridgepoint firm got a huge contact for MRI scanning.
Hugh’s writes that they drained money from the NHS for their “much criticised MRI work.” He still works for them whilst helping Streeting run the NHS. They also own Practice Plus Group which both runs private hospitals and other health services and does outsourced NHS work.
Hughes then turns his attention to Tom Watson who as 4 deputy leader of the Labour Party did all he could to undermine Labours left, paving the way for the return of the right under Starmer. He is now a paid adviser to Palantir (in the news this week), the US tech company run by pro-Trump billionaires which is chasing government contacts. It was also a client of Mandelson consultancy. Watson is also advisor to betting giant Flutter PLC and another lobbying company, Lodestone.
Starmer’s head of policy until 2022 was Claire Ainsley. She didn’t make it to government as she was considered slightly more “leftish” than others. However even she is now a “senior adviser” to lobbying firm WPI Strategy. She runs their Building Back Britain commission where firms like Penon Group (owners of privatised South West Water) Microsoft and MasterCard try to persuade the government that “growth” will come through deregulation or letting them influence NHS policy and so forth.
The biggest member of the “team Starmer” was Jonathan Ashworth who would have been a cabinet minister but lost his seat in the 2024 election to a pro-Palestine independent. He is now UK Chairman of public affairs for lobbyists Weber Shandwick.
Hughes names more of these people whose sole interest is their own financial position.
At the end of the day Mandelson might be the “Prince of Darkness” but he is not the only villain of the piece.