UK Officials Considered Special ‘Red Box' for Trump–What New Emails Show

Senior British officials debated gifting President Donald Trump a replica “red box” used by British officials to carry official papers and classified files, just weeks before former British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, was fired from his post.

Sir Oliver Robbins, who served as the U.K. Foreign Office’s permanent under-secretary from 2025 until earlier this year, told fellow civil servants it was “clear that one of the gifts that would mean the most” to Trump would be a replica “red box” tailored to the president, according to an email exchange published on Monday.

Red boxes are sometimes called ministerial boxes, and they’re used by government officials and ministers to carry important documents or transport information securely.

A gifted box for Trump would have a gold crest and lettering mimicking these boxes, but with “President of the United States” inscribed on the exterior, Robbins said in an email dated August 26, 2025.

“I am sure you will have been round this issue at least once already but is there anything I can do to help?,” Robbins then added. “I’m not sure whether the balance is right.”

The exchanges were released by the U.K. government on Monday as part of more than 1,000 pages of documents linked to Mandelson’s appointment as the U.K. ambassador to Washington.

Mandelson was sacked as Britain’s top representative to the U.S. in September 2025 over his links to disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He then resigned from the U.K.’s ruling Labour Party in February this year.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 10:44 AM.