Former UK Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson announced Sunday that he has resigned from the Labour Party, amid growing scrutiny over his connections to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson’s resignation comes after the release on Friday of Department of Justice documents suggesting Epstein made payments totaling $75,000 to accounts linked to the Labour peer between 2003 and 2004. Mandelson, who was a sitting member of Parliament at the time, denied receiving the money, but said he would resign to avoid causing “further embarrassment” over his ties to Epstein.
“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this,” Mandelson wrote in a letter to Labour Party General Secretary Hollie Ridley, according to the BBC.
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me,” Mandelson added. “While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.”
The former ambassador was fired by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September after a trove of emails revealed the extent of his ties to Epstein. The revelations included messages Mandelson sent expressing support while Epstein faced charges for soliciting a minor in 2008, as well as his inclusion in Epstein’s 2003 “birthday book,” which featured a handwritten note in which Mandelson described the sex offender as his “best pal.”
“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” Mandelson allegedly wrote in an email to Epstein the day before he reported to jail in June 2008, according to Bloomberg News. “I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain.”
Starmer initially defended Mandelson, telling Parliament the ambassador still had his “confidence.”
Labour Minister Olivia Bailey on Monday welcomed Mandelson’s resignation, stating that Starmer did not have full knowledge of the ambassador’s Epstein ties at the time of his Washington appointment, Politico reported.
“The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are investigated in line with our rules and procedures,” a Labour Party spokesperson added.
The Conservative Party responded to Mandelson’s resignation by questioning Starmer’s judgment.
“Lord Mandelson is completely disgraced,” a party spokesperson said in a statement, according to Sky News. “Yet Keir Starmer lacked the backbone to take action, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labour Party instead of kicking him out.”
“Given the prime minister’s appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation,” the spokesperson said.
Mandelson has previously been forced out of high office amid scandals on several occasions. He resigned as trade and industry secretary in 1998 for failing to declare a home loan he obtained from a wealthy colleague. In 2001, he was again forced to resign as Northern Ireland secretary following allegations that he used his position to influence a British citizenship application from a wealthy businessman.
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