What are files from Mandelson’s US ambassador appointment likely to reveal?
It remains to be seen how many documents connected to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador will be released, and also when they will emerge, given they need to be vetted by parliament’s intelligence and security committee.But when the information does arrive, these are some of the key questions that Labour MPs in particular will be keen to have answered.This is the central issue, albeit one where we do already know one answer.As conceded by Keir Starmer in the Commons on Wednesday, when he made the appointment late last year he knew Mandelson had maintained his links with Epstein even after the disgraced financier had served a jail term for soliciting a minor for prostitution.This was an admission of the obvious, given the fact it had been reported by the media before the ambassadorial appointment was made.
But there will be intense scrutiny of what was formally acknowledged on this front by No 10, and how it was explained.The follow-on question is equally important: given the facts about Mandelson, how did Starmer and his team justify giving him one of the plum jobs in public life?While it remains to be seen if the documents set this out, the answer is also fairly well known already, if difficult to admit.They appear to have decided Mandelson’s many flaws were a risk worth taking to parachute a consummate political operator into Donald Trump’s court.Equally, there would have been an unspoken acceptance that given the many links Epstein had to Trump and a number of his associates, Mandelson would hardly stand out in this regard.Ultimately, the buck stops with the prime minister.
But a number of Labour MPs are pushing for the departure of Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, who is close to Mandelson and is known to have been keen for him to get the role.Documentary evidence that McSweeney essentially made the call could be very damaging to his chances of staying in No 10.Equally, any files showing Starmer pushing for the decision would not reflect well on his judgment.This is a side to the process that will indicate to MPs how structural the problems inside No 10 are.There is a sense among some backbenchers of Starmer’s team being an overly partisan boys’ club, lacking people able to take a step back and ask: do we really want to appoint the close friend of a convicted child sex offender?For many, this ties into wider worries about Starmer’s political judgment and the way he seems to blunder into so many avoidable rows.
This relates to the narrative very firmly pushed by Starmer on Wednesday, as he said Mandelson had “lied repeatedly” about his Epstein connections and “betrayed our country”,Here, however, there is less chance of seeing things set out in black and white,While Mandelson was fully vetted before being appointed, this process is based on personal details that are very unlikely to be published due to data protection rules,Labour MPs might have to take Starmer’s word for it,
Rio Tinto and Glencore abandon revived $260bn merger plan
Rio Tinto and Glencore have abandoned plans for a $260bn merger, walking away from a deal that would have created the world’s largest mining company.Rio Tinto said it was no longer considering a “merger or other business combination” with Glencore after it “determined that it could not reach an agreement that would deliver value to its shareholders”.Glencore said the key terms of the potential offer, which would have seen Rio keep both the chair and chief executive roles, “significantly undervalued Glencore’s underlying relative value contribution to the combined group”.The company added the deal did not adequately value its copper business and growth pipeline, and concluded that the merger was not in the best interests of its shareholders.It marks the third time that talks to combine the two commodities giants have collapsed, after discussions were revived last month
US job openings dropped to a five-year low in December 2025, report shows
US job openings dropped to the lowest level in more than five years in December and data for the prior month was revised lower amid a softening in labor market conditions at the end of 2025.Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased by 386,000 to 6.542m by the last day of December, the lowest level since September 2020, the labor department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or Jolts report, on Thursday.Data for November was revised down to show 6.928m job openings instead of the previously reported 7
Google Pixel Buds 2a review: great Bluetooth earbuds at a good price
Google’s latest budget Pixel earbuds are smaller, lighter, more comfortable and have noise cancelling, plus a case that allows you to replace the battery at home.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Pixel Buds 2a uses the design of the excellent Pixel Buds Pro 2 with a few high-end features at a more palatable £109 (€129/$129/A$239) price, undercutting rivals in the process
Google parent earnings beat projections amid plans to invest deeply in AI
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure.Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit of $34.5bn in the recently ended quarter, as revenue from cloud computing soared 48%.The company also forecast spending between $175bn and $185bn this year, a figure much higher than analysts’ expectations of roughly $115bn.In an earnings call, investors pressed Alphabet’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, on the significant increase
Pipe leaks and puck joy: Milan’s winter wasteland comes alive for ice hockey opener
The hosts managed to just about get the Santagiulia arena ready for Italy’s win over France – and the locals responded‘Ladies and gentlemen! The women’s preliminary Group B match between Italy and France will get under way in five minutes! And the question is: Are! You! Ready! For! Hockey?!” Well, quite.That had been the question for the past five months, as it happens, ever since it first became obvious that construction of Milan’s new Santagiulia arena was running massively behind schedule. At the test event last month the ice was grey because there was so much building dust in it, and midway through the match a man had to come on to the rink to repair a melted patch with a watering can.So what was the answer at last? Well, it depends on how you define “ready”. As the International Olympic Committee’s executive director for the games, Christophe Dubi, admitted a couple of days ago: “Do we have every single space in that venue finished? No
‘Penis injection’ claims in Winter Olympics ski jumping investigated by Wada
During its 26-year history, the World Anti-Doping Agency has faced thousands of questions about athletes using illicit substances. Thursday, however, surely marked the first time it was asked whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further.The Wada president Witold Banka’s reaction? “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland [Banka’s home country] so I promise you I’m going to look at it,” he said, with a wry smile.As crazy as it sounds, there are broader concerns surrounding this issue – which has been dubbed “Penisgate” – after they were first reported by the German newspaper Bild.Last year two of Norway’s Olympic medallists, Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang, were given three-month suspensions after the team was found to have secretly adjusted the seams of their suits around the crotch area at the 2025 World Ski Championships
Wes Streeting to offer resident doctors bigger pay rise to end dispute
Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of stroke by up to 25%, long-term study suggests
DWP chief accused of overseeing ‘culture of complacency’ that led to carer’s allowance scandal
Pentagon threatens to cut ties with Scouting America over ‘core values’
Three-quarters of cancer patients in England will survive by 2035, government pledges
Cost of UK’s drug price deal with US will come out of NHS budget