LONDON: British leader Keir Starmer ousted his envoy in Washington Peter Mandelson on Thursday amid new allegations of the diplomat’s close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was dead.
Nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness” in the course of his time as a communications spin doctor in the media, Mandelson had to resign twice from Tony Blair’s Labour administration in the late 1990s and early 2000s over charges of impropriety.
In a statement, the foreign ministry announced that the prime minister had instructed Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to recall Mandelson as ambassador “in light” of newly released emails he exchanged with Epstein.
“The emails demonstrate that the nature and extent of Peter Mandelson’s acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein are substantially different from that known at the time of appointment,” the statement read.
“Specifically Peter Mandelson’s call for Jeffrey Epstein’s initial conviction to be disputed as wrongful is new information.
“Given that, and in consideration of the victims of Epstein’s offenses he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
Starmer sacks Mandelson UK ambassador to US
The sack came following reports by The Sun newspaper and Bloomberg that Mandelson had sent support messages to Epstein while the financier was under investigation in the United States for sexual crimes in 2008.
In his emails, the Labour party elder wrote to Epstein that he was “following you closely and here whenever you need” and asked him to “remember the Art of War” when dealing with prosecutors.
Mandelson also allegedly instructed Epstein to “battle for early release” just before he was sentenced to 18 months for pleading guilty to procuring a child for prostitution.
“I think the world of you,” Mandelson, a former Labour minister, ex-European trade commissioner and political spin doctor, wrote a day before Epstein entered his sentence.
Following the reports, the 71-year-old Mandelson told the BBC that he “relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false”.
‘Best pal’
“His lawyers claimed that it was a shake down of him, a criminal conspiracy. I foolishly relied on their word which I regret to this day,” he added.
The high-profile dismissal comes just a week before US President Donald Trump is set to make a state visit to Britain.
Opposition Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch had described Mandelson’s role as “untenable”.
And at least three Labour MPs had already spoken out publicly calling on Starmer to act, including Andy McDonald, who demanded Mandelson “should go immediately”.
Starmer appointed Mandelson to the pivotal diplomatic role at the beginning of this year, charged with forging close ties with Trump.
Just on Wednesday, the prime minister declared that he had “confidence” in Mandelson, claiming “due process was followed” prior to the appointment.
His support was made after Mandelson was exposed to have referred to Epstein as his “best pal” and “intelligent, sharp-witted man” in a 2003 letter.
The letter was one of several that were published as part of a book gathered to commemorate the now infamous financier’s 50th birthday.
The contents were released by a US congressional committee that is probing Epstein’s case of sex offences.
Mandelson said in The Sun he was “very deeply” sorry for befriending Epstein “for much longer than I ought to have.”
