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  "path": "/2026/07/02/peter-mandelson-top-contact-russia-30-years-spy-dossier-claims-29011770/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-02T12:23:51.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "Politics",
    "British Government",
    "Peter Mandelson",
    "Russia",
    "US",
    "Jeffrey Epstein",
    "Daily Telegraph",
    "Donald Trump",
    "here",
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    "check our news page",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Sources told the Telegraph the claims in the dossier were nonsense (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n\nA leaked dossier claims Peter Mandelson was considered a top contact by Russia for decades before he was appointed the British ambassador to the US, it has been reported.\n\nLord Mandelson was sacked from the top diplomatic role in September last year, following revelations about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nSince his departure, there have been questions over the extent of the security checks that took place ahead of his appointment.\n\nA new wrinkle has now been added with a report leaked to the Daily Telegraph, which alleges Mandelson became a ‘privileged contact’ for Russian intelligence after first being approached by the KGB in 1990.\n\nThe dossier, codenamed Project Fish, was reportedly compiled in 2022 by Christopher Steele – the former chief of the MI6 Russia desk best known for his highly contested 2017 report on Donald Trump.\n\nIt suggests Mandelson is ‘considered to be one of the most significant RIS [Russian intelligence services] achievements in manipulating UK politics over the last three decades’.\n\n##  Everything is changing, all the time\n\nCut through political noise and understand how the Westminster chaos actually affects your life with Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov? Sign up here.\n\nThe Telegraph reported there is no evidence in the file that the ex-Labour peer spied for the Kremlin and sources told the newspaper the claims are nonsense and he has not done anything wrong.\n\nIt is unclear if Steele’s report formed part of the national security vetting that took place before Mandelson became ambassador in Washington.\n\nIn April, it emerged that he had been given clearance by the Foreign Office despite being considered a ‘borderline case’ following the vetting.\n\nMandelson with Sir Keir Starmer after his appointment (Picture: Carl Court/Pool Getty Images via)\n\nSir Olly Robbins, the top civil servant in the Foreign Office, was effectively sacked after it was claimed he overruled a decision to deny Mandelson clearance – though Robbins later said the situation was more complex.\n\nHe also claimed he felt under pressure to quickly give the appointment the green light.\n\nThe scandal surrounding the appointment and vetting was a major factor leading to Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to step down as Prime Minister last week.\n\nFormer MI6 officer Christopher Steele, who compiled the report (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n\nChristopher Steele’s dossier on Donald Trump became a flashpoint in the early years of the Republican’s first term as US President, after it was leaked to the press.\n\nThe file contained allegations that the newly elected president was the subject of so-called ‘kompromat’ by the Kremlin – including a supposed tape of him with sex workers in a Moscow hotel.\n\nThis was highly disputed by President Trump and his team, and it was later reported that the report had been partially funded as opposition research by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Peter Mandelson was ‘top contact to Russia for 30 years’, spy dossier claims"
}