Earlier this month, police began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein
Former British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson has been arrested by London police on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Reuters report.
Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain’s diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear.
Police earlier this month began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein.
“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” Reuters quoted London’s Metropolitan Police as saying in a statement relating to an investigation into a former government minister.
Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the US Department of Justice in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government.
Mandelson, who this month resigned from Starmer’s Labour Party and quit his position in parliament’s upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his past association with Epstein.
But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.
Last week, King Charles’ younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was also arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to Epstein.
He has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
The revelations about Mandelson’s links to stein have intensified pressure on Prime Minister Starmer over his decision to appoint Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States in December 2024.
Starmer acknowledged that he was aware — as widely reported in the media — of Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein even after the financier was jailed in 2008 for child sex offences.
Mandelson, the grandson of former Labour home and foreign secretary Herbert Morrison, has been a prominent figure in the Labour Party for five decades.
He was selected as the party’s candidate for the safe seat of Hartlepool in 1990 and won it in the 1992 general election.
An early supporter of Tony Blair, Mandelson played a key role in shaping New Labour and directed the party’s 1997 general election campaign before holding multiple ministerial posts in government.
The Epstein revelations and the ensuing public backlash led Mandelson to resign from the Labour Party and step down from his seat in the House of Lords.
With inputs from agencies
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