Peter Mandelson has been dramatically sacked from his role as UK ambassador to the US following mounting pressure over his newly revealed links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It comes after it was revealed that Lord Mandelson had maintained ties with Epstein after the disgraced former banker was jailed for a child sex offence.
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, foreign minister Stephen Doughty said Lord Mandelson had been sacked after leaked emails showed that his relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019, was “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment” as UK ambassador to the US last year.
The Tories said it showed an “extraordinary error of judgement by this prime minister” and that it raised “massive questions” about what he knew about the pair’s relationship and when.
Announcing Lord Mandelson’s sacking, Mr Doughty said: “In light of additional information in the emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States.
“The emails show that the depth and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment. In particular, Lord Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.”
While there were cheers at the news in the Commons, Tory shadow minister Neil O’Brien was not satisfied with the explanation after prime minister Sir Keir Starmer made a robust defence of Lord Mandelson just 24 hours ago.
He said: “This is yet another extraordinary error of judgement by this prime minister. It raises massive questions.
“It is not just that Peter Mandelson said that Epstein was his best pal and that he loved him. It wasn’t just that he brokered a deal for him while he was business secretary. We now, of course, know that he was working for Epstein’s early release after he was convicted.
“And the simple question is this: is the minister now saying that the prime minister did not know about any of this at the point where [Lord Mandelson] was appointed? What did the prime minister know at the point of his appointment?”
The sacking comes a day after Britain’s ambassador to Washington said he was “very embarrassed” to read a birthday message he wrote to Epstein in which he described him as his “best pal”.
The message, part of a 50th birthday book compiled for Epstein by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, also saw Lord Mandelson express “love” for the financier and joke about entertaining his “interesting” friends.
While Sir Keir initially said he maintained confidence in Lord Mandelson, he faced growing pressure to sack him, with Labour MPs joining calls for the ambassador to go.
One leading critic, Labour MP Andy McDonald, praised the sacking in the Commons. He said: “The prime minister has made exactly the right decision, and I think that has to be acknowledged: he’s moved at pace.
“Clearly the appointment process didn’t pick up these issues – that’s self-evident. So, can we have an assurance that there will be an inquiry as to why that was not the case?”
Foreign affairs committee chairman Dame Emily Thornberry said it is right that Lord Mandelson has been sacked and that she had previously been blocked from questioning him.
She said: “Since the first rumours of his appointment, my committee has repeatedly asked - publicly and privately - to question Peter Mandelson. It is right that he has now been sacked.
“The FCDO should not have stopped us from asking questions. The government should welcome such scrutiny.”
And Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir had failed a test of leadership after he sacked Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US.
The leader of the Conservative Party said in a statement: “Peter Mandelson is now gone, but Keir Starmer failed yet another key test of leadership. I asked him about Peter Mandelson’s links to the notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein six times at Prime Minister’s Questions. And six times he could not provide any answers.
“He gave his full backing to a man unfit for office. This matters for you. Because the prime minister has been distracted from the serious national security and economic challenges our country is facing.
“He is a weak prime minister, who doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing at the right time.”
While Lord Mandelson has insisted he regrets ever having met Epstein, an investigation by The Telegraph has detailed a two-decade friendship between the pair, which continued even after Epstein was jailed for a child sex offence in 2008.
Its report includes claims that Epstein brokered a deal involving the then Mr Mandelson, who was the Labour business secretary at the time, in relation to the sale of a taxpayer-owned business, after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences.
Speaking to The Sun’s Harry Cole on his YouTube channel after the controversial birthday message to Epstein was revealed, Lord Mandelson said: “I find [the messages] very embarrassing to see and to read... but, as you say, they were written before he was indicted.
“I just feel two things now. One, I feel a tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffered as a result of his behaviour and his illegal criminal activities. And secondly, I regret very, very deeply indeed, carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done.
“It was a matter of years after I initially met him, and I regret very much that I fell for his lies.”
Lord Mandelson went on to say that “perhaps because I am a gay man” he may have been blinded to Epstein’s criminal behaviour.
But, asked whether there were more revelations to come about the relationship, Lord Mandelson said: “I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges between us – absolutely. And we know those are going to surface. We know they’re going to come out. We know they’re going to be very embarrassing, and [we] know that I’m going to profoundly regret ever having met him and been introduced to him in the first place.”
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