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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Eleni Courea Political correspondent

Hartlepool strips Peter Mandelson of civic honour

Close up of Peter Mandelson at the White House.
Peter Mandelson, a Labour peer, was sacked as the UK ambassador to the US last month. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/EPA

Peter Mandelson will be stripped of a civic honour he received from Hartlepool, the town he represented as a Labour MP, after the disclosures about his close friendship with the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Councillors in Hartlepool voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw the Freedom of Hartlepool from Lord Mandelson, who represented the area between 1992 and 2004.

The peer was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last month after Downing Street said he had not disclosed the full extent of his relationship with the late financier Epstein.

Hartlepool borough council said it had acted to avoid “damaging the reputation of Hartlepool and undermining public confidence in the integrity of civic awards”.

It said Mandelson’s “longstanding and close relationship” with Epstein, even after his conviction, was “fundamentally incompatible with the values and dignity of this honour”.

The scandal has led Mandelson to lose several honorary roles, including the title of high steward of Hull and his honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University, where he previously served as chancellor.

He has also lost his voting rights and dividend payments from Global Counsel, the advisory company he co-founded with Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.

Documents released in September revealed Mandelson had sent supportive messages to Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

In one message, Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” and in another, sent the day before he began his prison sentence, he said: “I think the world of you.”

Mandelson described Epstein as his “best pal” in a book compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker, for the financier’s 50th birthday.

After this material came to light, the peer said he regretted continuing his association with Epstein “for too long”. Keir Starmer said he would never have appointed him as ambassador if he had known the full extent of the relationship.

However, the controversy has raised questions about Starmer’s judgment given Mandelson’s continued friendship with Epstein after his conviction had been a matter of public record.

A report compiled by JP Morgan revealed that Mandelson had stayed in Epstein’s apartment in Manhattan in 2009, while the latter was serving an 18-month prison sentence.

The foreign affairs committee, chaired by the Labour MP Emily Thornberry, has demanded that ministers give evidence on how Mandelson was cleared and appointed. The Foreign Office has admitted he was not subject to in-depth security vetting prior to his appointment being announced.

The peer took a temporary leave of absence from the House of Lords to take up the post in Washington, and there have been calls from some MPs and opposition parties for him to be expelled from the upper chamber entirely.

Nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness” during his time as Labour’s spin doctor in the late 1980s, Mandelson helped Tony Blair return his party to power in 1997.

He took up the post of ambassador to the US in February. The government is in the process of recruiting his replacement.

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