Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said he’s “shocked” at the claims surrounding the former business secretary Lord Mandelson and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

At a news conference on Thursday, Bailey was asked about emails Mandelson allegedly sent to Epstein during the financial crisis.

At the time, Mandelson was business secretary and the global banking industry was close to collapse, prompting huge government bailouts in many countries, including the UK. There was a great deal of anger about this and the then Labour government proposed taxing bankers’ bonuses.

As the BBC’s economics editor, Faisal Islam, has written, the latest emails appear to show that Mandelson seemingly suggested that Jamie Dimon, boss of one of America’s biggest banks JP Morgan should mildly threaten the then Chancellor, the late Alistair Darling, over the tax.

Bailey, who played a key role in helping to stabilise the UK banking sector during the 2008-09 financial crisis, said “there are times in which things seemed to happen, lobbying happens, which has frankly ethics attached to it that I do find shocking”.

“To see those pictures of Peter Mandelson with Alistair Darling… Alistair Darling was doing all the right things and he was doing them, in my view… with a thorough sense of honesty and decency,” Bailey said.

“And he can’t speak for himself today.”

NatWest has announced plans to dramatically expand its Accelerator community, with an ambition to support 50,000 entrepreneurs across the UK in 2026 – a five-fold increase on the target it set for 2025.

The move follows a standout year for the programme, during which the bank supported around 12,000 founders. That figure exceeds the total number of entrepreneurs the Accelerator had backed over the previous decade combined, highlighting the rapid acceleration in both scale and impact.

The expansion forms part of NatWest’s new five-point Growing Together plan, which outlines how the bank intends to support long-term UK growth. The strategy focuses on backing regional economies, championing mid-market businesses, strengthening infrastructure and housing, improving financial confidence among families and young people, and supporting the innovators shaping the future economy.

NatWest said it believes banks have a role to play beyond providing finance, using their regional footprint, expertise and convening power to bring together businesses, communities and policymakers to help remove structural barriers to growth and unlock productivity across the UK.

At the heart of the expansion is the NatWest Accelerator community, which is built around peer networks, local cohorts and access to expert mentors, investors and specialist support. The programme is designed to help early-stage and high-growth businesses launch, scale and build resilience.

Data released by the bank shows the impact of the programme on participating businesses. Companies that completed the Accelerator grew their turnover by an average of 104 per cent year-on-year, compared with 20 per cent growth among a control group. In addition, nine out of ten Accelerator businesses were still trading three years later, compared with fewer than half in the control group.

Robert Begbie, CEO of Commercial & Institutional Banking at NatWest Group, said the expanded ambition reflects the bank’s confidence in the programme’s effectiveness.

“We know that to build the economy of the future we need to back the innovators who will power it,” he said. “Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind innovation, job creation and long-term economic growth across the UK. By raising our ambition for 2026, we’re reinforcing our commitment to back founders at every stage – from idea to scale-up – and help them turn ambition into sustainable success.”

The commitment was welcomed by government and business groups. Small Business Minister Blair McDougall said the announcement reflected the kind of practical support needed to unlock the potential of small businesses nationwide, while Aaron Asadi, CEO of Enterprise Nation, described NatWest as unmatched among banks in its support for UK entrepreneurs.

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, added that expanding the Accelerator would give more founders access to the advice and peer networks they need to grow with confidence.

As part of the expansion, NatWest will continue to grow its network of Accelerator hubs and on-campus university partnerships. The bank has already established hubs in collaboration with universities including Manchester, Oxford, York, Brighton and Warwick, and plans to set up hubs in up to ten universities over the next three years.

The Accelerator also delivers structured growth journeys through its UK hub network and via the NatWest Accelerator app, working in partnership with Google to provide access to digital tools, training and specialist expertise. Pitch events and founder forums held across the UK give entrepreneurs opportunities to showcase their businesses, build networks and access funding.

One business to benefit from the programme is Leeds-based production company Mood Films, which launched in 2024 after evolving from a long-standing mentor-mentee relationship into a creative partnership. After joining the NatWest Accelerator, the founders gained access to co-working space, one-to-one coaching and workshops covering funding, sales, marketing and future planning.

Louis Jones, co-founder and director of photography at Mood Films, said the programme helped the team move from being filmmakers learning the basics of business to confident founders with a clear understanding of how to scale.

“Joining the NatWest Accelerator was one of the best decisions we ever made for our business,” he said. “The support helped us understand every area of the business and gave us the confidence to grow now and into the future.”

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.