Officers at No 10 and the Overseas Workplace had been conscious of supportive emails between Lord Mandelson and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when the prime minister initially defended the previous ambassador on Wednesday, the BBC understands.
Sources pressured Sir Keir was not conscious of the contents of the emails when he stood by Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
The BBC understands {that a} media enquiry outlining particulars of the messages between the pair was despatched to the Overseas Workplace on Tuesday, and handed on to No 10.
Sir Oliver Robbins, everlasting under-secretary on the Overseas Workplace, requested Lord Mandelson in regards to the emails on Tuesday however didn’t obtain a response till the subsequent day.
Backbench Labour MP Olivia Blake referred to as the report “actually embarrassing” and mentioned “any operation that fails to inform a major minister when one thing as substantial as these emails had been offered to them clearly has deep failings”.
She instructed BBC Radio 4’s Right now programme on Saturday: “Whoever is gatekeeping the data to the prime minister must cease, they usually must be getting issues to him a lot earlier in order that he can get on prime of it.”
Requested whether or not Lord Mandelson must be required to go away the Home of Lords, Blake mentioned it was one thing “we must be contemplating”.
Lord Mandelson was sacked because the UK’s ambassador to the US shortly earlier than 11:00 on Thursday. Downing Avenue mentioned the emails contained “new info” that was not identified on the time of Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
The total emails had been printed by Bloomberg and the Solar on Wednesday night.
“I feel the world of you and I really feel hopeless and livid about what has occurred,” Mandelson wrote the day earlier than Epstein reported to jail in 2008 for soliciting intercourse from a minor.
Mandelson added: “You must be extremely resilient, battle for early launch… Your mates stick with you and love you.”
In an interview with the Solar on Wednesday, Lord Mandelson mentioned he felt a “super sense of remorse” that he had met Epstein, and that he “took at face worth the lies that he fed me and lots of others”.
The BBC earlier reported that Lord Mandelson’s emails had been despatched from an previous account to which he not had entry. Officers cite this as the explanation they’d not been seen earlier.
In a press release saying Lord Mandelson’s dismissal, the Overseas Workplace mentioned: “The emails present that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially completely different from that identified on the time of his appointment.”
Following his sacking, Mandelson mentioned being the UK’s ambassador to the US had been “the privilege of my life”.
It comes as Sir Keir faces rising strain over his dealing with of Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.
Labour MP Clive Lewis, an outspoken voice on the Labour left, mentioned Sir Keir “doesn’t seem up to the job”, including that there was a “very, very harmful ambiance” amongst Labour MPs.
One other Labour MP Jo White mentioned the “clock is ticking” for Sir Keir to show polls round earlier than native elections subsequent Might.
Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the overseas affairs committee, has written to the brand new Overseas Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for particulars on the vetting course of for Lord Mandelson’s appointment, and whether or not safety issues had been dismissed.
Thornberry’s letter was first reported by Sky Information.
It additionally emerged that Jeffrey Epstein paid for Lord Mandelson’s travel on two separate events in 2003 totalling greater than $7,400 (£5,400), in line with paperwork launched by the US Home of Representatives Oversight Committee.
Earlier this week, US lawmakers launched an alleged “birthday e-book” containing messages despatched to Jeffrey Epstein on his fiftieth birthday in 2003 – including one from Lord Mandelson.
In his letter, which options photographs of the pair, Lord Mandelson described Jeffrey Epstein as his “greatest pal”, and an “clever, sharp-witted man”.
