Britain’s ambassador to U.S., longtime friend of Jeffrey Epstein, relieved of duties | CBC News

Peter Mandelson, Britain’s smooth-talking ambassador to the U.S., was sacked on Thursday after his long-term association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became a further distraction for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Mandelson, dubbed the Prince of Darkness for his behind-the-scenes manoeuvring during the last Labour government, was forced from the most sought-after diplomatic post after his letters and emails to the late Epstein were published this week.

The 71-year-old, a veteran Labour politician who was key to the party’s success under former leader Tony Blair, had come under scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein after a birthday book was released including a letter purportedly from the now ambassador describing Epstein as “my best pal.” The birthday book also contains an alleged submission from U.S. President Donald Trump, who denies sending a letter to Epstein, a former friend.

Further emails were published in the British media showing that Mandelson had advised Epstein to fight for early release when he faced charges over soliciting a minor.

“In light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador,” Britain’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.”

The ministry said the revelation of Mandelson’s suggestion that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged was “new information.”

Starmer nominated Mandelson to the post in December 2024. Mandelson was first elected as MP in 1992 and served in a variety of posts in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, eventually obtaining peerage in the House of Lords.

Mandelson said on Wednesday he felt a “profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women who suffered as a result of his behaviour and his illegal criminal activities.”

“I feel a tremendous sense of regret not only that I met him in the first place, but that I continued the association and I took at face value the lies that he fed me and many others,” he said, describing Epstein as a “charismatic criminal liar.”

Those statements seemed to satisfy Starmer, who later in Parliament gave him his backing.

Starmer in recent days had to reshuffle his cabinet after Britain’s independent adviser ruled that Angela Rayner, his deputy prime minister, had breached the ministerial code by failing to pay the correct tax on residences.

Rayner was the eighth, and the most senior, ministerial departure from Starmer’s team in just over one year in office, and the most damaging yet.

“Mandelson might have gone but, just as with Angela Rayner, Starmer dithered when he needed to be decisive,” Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch of the Conservative Party said in a video statement. “Time and again he puts party above country. He has no backbone and no convictions.”

Case continues to consume U.S. Congress

The dismissal comes just days before Trump is scheduled to make a state visit to Britain.

Epstein’s death in prison in August 2019 was officially ruled a suicide, though its circumstances, and the financier’s associations with high-profile men like Trump, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz, have spawned myriad conspiracy theories.

It has proved to be a political thorn in the side of Trump across both of his presidential terms. It was his first-term labour secretary, Alex Acosta, who years earlier while a prosecutor in Florida approved an Epstein plea deal now viewed as unusually lenient. Acosta resigned as labour secretary as a result of the furor.

WATCH l Women could have been saved earlier, alleged victims say: 

‘So hard to begin to heal,’ says Epstein survivor

Marina Lacerda spoke at a Wednesday news conference about the abuse she says she suffered from Jeffrey Epstein starting when she was just 14. She said she struggles to remember parts of the traumatic experience and the release of files related to the disgraced financier could help her ‘put the pieces of my own life back together.’

House Democrats publicly released the alleged Trump letter for the birthday book this week, and they say its signature matches Trump’s distinctive writing, a view countered publicly by the president and some congressional Republicans. The Wall Street Journal, in July, first reported on the existence of the letter, leading Trump to sue the paper and its corporate parent, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans narrowly turned away a surprise effort on Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer to force a vote on a measure ordering the Trump administration to release its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

An amendment introduced by Schumer, requiring the Justice Department to release all Epstein files within 30 days, threatened to foist a controversy onto Senate Republicans, who have so far avoided a debate that has roiled the House of Representatives for weeks.

The amendment was identical to a resolution filed in the House by Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna, who are trying to force a floor vote in that chamber. House Speaker Mike Johnson has urged his Republican majority not to support the measure.

Last week, several women who alleged they were abused by Epstein joined Massie, Khanna and several other House legislators on the steps of Capitol Hill to criticize the administration.

Members of Trump’s administration including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel came into office promising transparency, and in some interviews, revelations regarding the Epstein case, but those have failed to materialize, angering some hardcore MAGA supporters.

A senior Justice Department official was summoned to interview Ghislaine Maxwell — the U.S.-based British friend of Epstein now in prison after being found guilty of child sex trafficking — but a transcript of the conversation released publicly provided no revelations that incriminated other individuals.

Trump has described the ongoing efforts in Congress a “Democrat hoax.” When pressed by a reporter to define what exactly the president meant by that, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week that “the hoax is the Democrats pretending to care about victims of crime when they do not care about victims of crime.”