Peter Mandelson says he’s stepping right down to keep away from inflicting additional embarrassment to governing celebration.
Revealed On 2 Feb 2026
Peter Mandelson, the UK’s former ambassador to america, has resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Social gathering following additional revelations of his hyperlinks to the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, UK media have reported.
Mandelson, who was eliminated as London’s high consultant in Washington final 12 months after the emergence of emails detailing his associations with Epstein, mentioned he had resigned to keep away from inflicting additional embarrassment to the governing celebration, the reviews mentioned 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 mentioned in a letter reported by the BBC and The Guardian.
Mandelson mentioned he believed that reviews over the weekend that he had acquired a number of funds from Epstein within the early 2000s had been false, however that he wanted to research them, the reviews mentioned.
Mandelson earlier informed the BBC he had no recollection of the funds and didn’t know whether or not the paperwork had 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 Social gathering and I’m due to this fact stepping down from membership of the celebration,” Mandelson mentioned in his letter, in response to the reviews.
“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 celebration and in taking my determination, I consider I’m appearing in its greatest pursuits.”
Mandelson’s resignation comes after the Monetary Instances and the BBC reported on paperwork that seem to indicate he acquired funds totalling $75,000 from Epstein in 2003 and 2004.
The paperwork had been contained in investigative information on Epstein launched by the US Division of Justice (DOJ) on Friday.
The most recent 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 informed the BBC that he “can not place the situation or the lady and I can not suppose what the circumstances had been”.
Emails launched by the DOJ additionally seem to indicate that Mandelson informed Epstein in 2009 that he was “attempting onerous” to water down a tax on financial institution bonuses introduced by the federal government, by which he was serving as enterprise secretary.
Mandelson informed Epstein that JPMorgan chief govt Jamie Dimon ought to “mildly threaten” the UK’s chancellor over the tax, in response to the emails, which had been reported by the Telegraph and the Monetary Instances.
Quite a few high-profile figures in politics, enterprise, and leisure have appeared within the Epstein information, and being included within the paperwork doesn’t point out wrongdoing.
