Keir Starmer walked through the Acorn Nursery in Brighton on Tuesday, but his mind was clearly in a darker, more expensive place. Over a thousand pages of documents were released on Monday, detailing the disastrous tenure of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to Washington. According to the files, Mandelson assured the government they would "never regret" his appointment. That pledge was proven wrong within months. The files, unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice, reveal the deep and uncomfortable links between Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein.

Opponents are now calling for Starmer’s resignation, questioning his judgment in keeping a friend of a convicted sex offender in such a high-status diplomatic post. The government was warned as early as March that Mandelson’s friendship exposed them to "reputational risk," according to the trove. This is a high-society autopsy performed in public view. Every page turned is a new blow to Starmer’s crumbling authority. Mandelson was fired after only nine months, and the fallout has left the Prime Minister fighting for his political life.

Lawmakers demanded the release of documents related to Mandelson’s conduct in the U.K.’s most important diplomatic post. Details about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein were first revealed in a huge trove of files published in January, but these new documents bring even more embarrassment. In Brighton, Starmer looked on as if witnessing a disaster in slow motion. The social gulf between the ambassador’s luxury post and the reality of his associations has become an unbridgeable canyon. As the files circulate through London's halls of power, the scent of scandal is becoming impossible to ignore.