Peter Mandelson says he’s stepping all the way down to keep away from inflicting additional embarrassment to governing social gathering.
Revealed On 2 Feb 2026
Peter Mandelson, the UK’s former ambassador to america, has resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Celebration following additional revelations of his hyperlinks to the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, UK media have reported.
Mandelson, who was eliminated as London’s prime consultant in Washington final 12 months after the emergence of emails detailing his associations with Epstein, stated he had resigned to keep away from inflicting additional embarrassment to the governing social gathering, the studies stated on Sunday.
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“I’ve been additional linked this weekend to the comprehensible furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I really feel regretful and sorry about this,” Mandelson stated in a letter reported by the BBC and The Guardian.
Mandelson stated he believed that studies over the weekend that he had acquired a number of funds from Epstein within the early 2000s have been false, however that he wanted to research them, the studies stated.
Mandelson earlier instructed the BBC he had no recollection of the funds and didn’t know whether or not the paperwork have been real. He additionally reiterated his remorse for “ever having identified” Epstein.
“Whereas doing this I don’t want to trigger additional embarrassment to the Labour Celebration and I’m subsequently stepping down from membership of the social gathering,” Mandelson stated in his letter, based on the studies.
“I need to take this chance to repeat my apology to the ladies and women whose voices ought to have been heard lengthy prior to now. I’ve devoted my life to the values and success of the Labour social gathering and in taking my determination, I imagine I’m appearing in its greatest pursuits.”
Mandelson’s resignation comes after the Monetary Occasions and the BBC reported on paperwork that seem to point out that he and his companion acquired funds totalling $75,000 from Epstein in 2003 and 2004.
The paperwork have been contained in investigative recordsdata on Epstein launched by the US Division of Justice (DOJ) on Friday.
The newest tranche of paperwork additionally comprises a picture of Mandelson in his underwear standing subsequent to a lady, whose face was obscured by US authorities.
Mandelson instructed the BBC that he “can’t place the placement or the girl and I can’t suppose what the circumstances have been”.
Emails launched by the DOJ additionally seem to point out that Mandelson instructed Epstein in 2009 that he was “making an attempt laborious” to water down a tax on financial institution bonuses introduced by the federal government, through which he was serving as enterprise secretary.
Mandelson instructed Epstein that JPMorgan chief govt Jamie Dimon ought to “mildly threaten” the UK’s chancellor over the tax, based on the emails, which have been reported by the Telegraph and the Monetary Occasions.
Quite a few high-profile figures in politics, enterprise, and leisure have appeared within the Epstein recordsdata, and being included within the paperwork doesn’t point out wrongdoing.
