How the Epstein Files Shook Britain: From Palace to Parliament

The release of millions of Epstein documents has exposed uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and complicity at the heart of British institutions. For the Turkish-British community watching from both sides, the scandal raises questions about accountability that transcend borders.

When the United States Department of Justice released over three million pages of documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in late January 2026, the shockwaves reverberated far beyond American shores. Britain, in particular, has found itself confronting an uncomfortable reckoning with how deeply Epstein’s tentacles reached into the very fabric of its establishment—from Buckingham Palace to the corridors of Westminster.

For readers of TB Mag, straddling Turkish and British cultural spheres, this scandal offers a sobering case study in how power operates when accountability falters, regardless of geography.

The Palace Under Siege

The man formerly known as Prince Andrew—now stripped of his royal titles and reduced to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—has long been the most visible British connection to the Epstein scandal. The latest document release, however, has intensified pressure on King Charles III’s younger brother to an unprecedented degree.

Three undated photographs appearing in the new files show the former prince kneeling over what appears to be a woman or girl lying fully clothed on the floor. Whilst no captions or context accompanied these images, they have reignited calls for Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before the United States Congress.

The irony is bitter. In a now-infamous 2019 BBC interview, Mountbatten-Windsor claimed he had severed all ties with Epstein in 2010, following the financier’s 2008 conviction. Yet emails uncovered last year revealed that Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to contact Epstein again in 2011, telling him to “keep in close touch” and that they were “in this together”.

King Charles has acted decisively, stripping his brother of royal titles in October 2025 and beginning eviction proceedings from the Windsor estate. Just this week, Mountbatten-Windsor was moved from his luxurious Royal Lodge at Windsor to a more modest property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk—a cottage whose renovations are being funded entirely from the King’s private purse rather than public money.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife, has also been ensnared. Documents appear to show that Epstein wired Ferguson £150,000 after helping her cash in share options from Weight Watchers. Her charitable foundation, Sarah’s Trust, announced its closure “for the foreseeable future” in early February, whilst organisations where she held honorary positions have quietly severed ties.

Perhaps most damning, it emerged that Ferguson visited Epstein in 2009 with her daughters—a full year after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

The ‘Prince of Darkness’ Falls

If the royal scandal was predictable, the political earthquake centred on Peter Mandelson has proven more explosive. The 72-year-old architect of “New Labour” under Tony Blair, Mandelson earned the nickname “Prince of Darkness” for his Machiavellian approach to power. Now that darkness has consumed his career entirely.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington in late 2024, despite well-documented ties to Epstein. It was a decision that would haunt the Labour government. Although Starmer fired Mandelson as ambassador after just seven months in Washington during the fallout from an earlier release of Epstein files, the prime minister’s initial decision to appoint him has snowballed into a crisis for his beleaguered Labour government.

The latest document release revealed the true depth of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. Far from being casual acquaintances, the two maintained an active correspondence spanning at least 2002 to 2011—continuing even after Epstein’s conviction.

Trading Secrets for Access

What has transformed this from a scandal of association into potential criminality are revelations that Mandelson allegedly passed sensitive government information to Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis, when Mandelson served as Business Secretary under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In one exchange from December 2009, Mandelson appeared to suggest that the head of JP Morgan Chase should call Alistair Darling, then Britain’s finance minister, and “mildly threaten” him regarding a planned tax on bankers’ bonuses. According to Darling’s memoirs, published before his death in 2023, the call was indeed made.

Even more troubling, Mandelson appeared to tip off Epstein that the European Union was planning a €500 billion bailout to prop up the euro. He forwarded an internal economics briefing to Epstein about assets the government believed it could sell, adding: “Interesting note that’s gone to the PM.”

In May 2010, whilst serving as Business Secretary, Mandelson informed Epstein in advance that Gordon Brown would resign following the general election, writing: “finally got him to go today…”

Bank statements appear to show that between 2003 and 2004, Epstein paid a total of $75,000 into bank accounts linked to Mandelson. When confronted, Mandelson claimed not to remember receiving the money—a response that strained credulity given the substantial sum.

The Reckoning

London’s Metropolitan Police announced on 4th February that it had launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences. Whilst police did not name Mandelson, as is customary, the investigation followed directly from the government’s referral of his Epstein correspondence.

Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

On 2nd February, Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party. By 4th February, facing legislation to forcibly remove him, he resigned from the House of Lords, where he had sat as Lord Mandelson of Foy since 2008. Universities rescinded honorary doctorates. His former constituency stripped him of the Freedom of the Borough of Hartlepool.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was scathing. Brown said Mandelson’s alleged leaking of information to Epstein was “an inexcusable and unpatriotic act at a time when the whole government and country were attempting to address the global financial crisis that was damaging so many livelihoods”.

On 5th February, Prime Minister Starmer offered a public apology. “I am sorry,” Starmer said to Epstein’s victims. “Sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him.”

Starmer acknowledged that whilst it was publicly known that Mandelson knew Epstein, “none of us knew the depth and the darkness of that relationship”. When directly questioned during the vetting process, Mandelson “portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew”.

The Israel Connection: Palantir’s Shadow Over the NHS

Buried within the Epstein documents is another troubling thread that directly affects every person in Britain: the connection to Palantir Technologies, the controversial American data analytics firm.

Emails reveal that Epstein and Mandelson discussed Palantir as early as 2008, before the company became a household name. A 2019 internal JPMorgan report filed to a New York court found that “Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Lord Mandelson”, noting Mandelson’s efforts to facilitate business connections.

Why does this matter now? Because Palantir currently holds a £330 million contract with NHS England to manage the Federated Data Platform—a system handling the health data of 67 million people.

A Company Built on Surveillance

Palantir was founded in 2003 by billionaire Peter Thiel with funding from the CIA’s venture capital arm. The company specialises in AI-powered military surveillance technology and data analytics, with extensive contracts with US intelligence agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and—most controversially—the Israeli Defence Forces.

In a social media post on 12th October 2023, Palantir declared: “Certain kinds of evil can only be fought with force. Palantir stands with Israel”. CEO Alex Karp has been more explicit. In April 2024, Karp admitted that Palantir had helped Israel kill Palestinians in Gaza, adding: “Mostly terrorists, that’s true”.

In January 2024, Palantir signed a strategic partnership deal with Israel’s defence ministry to increase its “advanced technology provision” in support of war-related missions. According to investigative reports, Palantir software was used by Israel in its September 2024 pager attacks in Lebanon, in which 42 people were killed and thousands wounded.

A July 2025 report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese found reasonable grounds to believe Palantir has provided automatic predictive policing technology, rapid military software deployment systems, and AI platforms enabling real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making in Gaza.

The NHS Controversy

The £330 million contract, awarded to Palantir by NHS England in 2023 under the Conservative government, has dismayed many NHS workers who have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and protested against Israeli attacks targeting hospitals and civilians.

A spokesperson for Health Workers for a Free Palestine told Middle East Eye: “Many would be rightly concerned that a third-party company is managing their medical data, let alone Palantir, whose interests are at odds with the British public, Palestinian people and our collective humanity”.

The concerns extend beyond political solidarity. Privacy campaigners warn that Palantir’s track record with mass surveillance for the NSA and GCHQ, combined with its role in developing predictive policing tools used to target Palestinians, makes it an unsuitable custodian of Britain’s most sensitive health data.

In 2025, the British Medical Association passed a formal resolution calling for cancellation of the Palantir contract, arguing it “threatens to undermine public trust in NHS data systems, due to a lack of transparency in how the data will be stored and processed, a track record of creating discriminatory policing software in the US, and close links to a US government which shows little regard for international law”.

Healthcare workers have repeatedly blockaded both Palantir’s London offices and NHS England headquarters. Many wear masks to protect their identities, fearing repercussions for publicly supporting Palestine.

The Mandelson connection adds another layer of concern. Reports emerged that Palantir was represented by a lobbying firm founded by Mandelson, raising questions about whether his influence helped secure the NHS contract.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been amongst the most vocal critics. In comments to Middle East Eye, Corbyn said: “Palantir have already got their hands on millions of people’s health records. Now the government is outsourcing our foreign policy as well. Why can’t we have our own independent foreign policy based on solidarity and peace instead?”

What This Means for the Turkish-British Community

For TB Mag’s readers—many of whom navigate between Turkish and British identities—these scandals resonate on multiple levels.

Turkey has its own fraught relationship with questions of state power, surveillance, and accountability. The sight of British institutions grappling with similar issues offers no schadenfreude, only a reminder that these challenges transcend national boundaries.

The Palantir controversy is particularly relevant. Many in the Turkish-British community maintain strong connections to the Middle East and have watched Israel’s actions in Gaza with horror. The knowledge that their NHS health data is managed by a company proudly supplying AI targeting systems to the IDF creates a profound ethical dilemma.

Moreover, Palantir’s work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement—building tools to track people marked for deportation under the Trump administration’s mass deportation programme—will concern any community with immigrant roots.

The question becomes: can you trust a healthcare system that entrusts your most intimate data to a company whose values and actions you find abhorrent?

The Accountability Deficit

What unites the Epstein files revelations—from Mountbatten-Windsor to Mandelson to Palantir—is a persistent failure of accountability amongst the powerful.

Mountbatten-Windsor has faced no criminal charges despite a 2022 civil settlement reportedly worth millions to Virginia Giuffre. Cabinet Minister Steve Reed’s call for him to testify before US Congress rings hollow when Britain’s own institutions have failed to pursue answers.

Mandelson’s trajectory is instructive. This is a man who was twice previously forced to resign from government due to ties to wealthy individuals. Yet Starmer appointed him ambassador to Washington anyway, conducting what now appears to have been cursory vetting at best.

The Palantir contract exemplifies institutional capture. Despite widespread opposition from healthcare workers, privacy campaigners, and human rights organisations, the deal proceeds. The process by which it was awarded remains opaque, with the actual contract heavily redacted. Concerns about data sovereignty, privacy, and complicity in violence abroad are dismissed with platitudes about “patient data remaining under NHS control”—a claim that means little when the software processing that data belongs to a company openly proud of its role in conflict zones.

Moving Forward: What Accountability Looks Like

Starmer’s apology was necessary but insufficient. True accountability requires structural change, not just the sacrifice of individual careers—however deserved Mandelson’s fall may be.

For the royal family, the question is whether Mountbatten-Windsor will ever face meaningful scrutiny. King Charles has acted within the constraints of constitutional monarchy, but those constraints themselves shield wrongdoing.

For Parliament, the Mandelson affair demands a fundamental rethinking of vetting procedures. How was a man with such extensive, well-documented ties to a convicted sex offender appointed to one of Britain’s most sensitive diplomatic posts? What does it say about Labour’s judgement—or its willingness to overlook inconvenient truths for political expediency?

For the NHS, the Palantir contract must be subject to genuine democratic oversight. Parliament should demand full disclosure of the contract terms, independent assessment of data security implications, and honest reckoning with the ethical dimensions of partnering with a company profiting from military operations that have killed thousands of civilians.

The Turkish-British community knows something about navigating between systems with different accountability standards. We understand the importance of civil society pressure, independent media, and refusing to accept that “this is just how things are done.”

The Light After Darkness

The Epstein files have illuminated dark corners of British public life that many would have preferred remain shadowed. For Epstein’s victims—many of whom have waited decades for acknowledgement and justice—these revelations bring both vindication and renewed trauma.

As we watch these institutions grapple with their failures, we must remember that accountability is not a single moment but a continuous process. It requires not just the fall of individuals like Mandelson, but systemic reform that makes such failures harder to repeat.

The “Prince of Darkness” has fallen. The former prince cowers in a Norfolk cottage. But the systems that enabled and protected them remain largely intact.

For those of us in the Turkish-British community, watching from our unique vantage point, the lesson is clear: power without accountability corrupts regardless of culture, language, or geography. The only antidote is sustained civic engagement, independent journalism, and the refusal to look away when confronted with uncomfortable truths.

The Epstein files have done their work. Now it’s up to us—the public—to ensure that work leads to lasting change.