Peter Mandelson has been sacked from his role as UK ambassador to the US following mounting pressure over his newly revealed links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It comes after it was revealed he had maintained ties with the disgraced former banker after he was jailed for a child sex offence.
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, foreign minister Stephen Doughty dramatically announced that Lord Mandelson had been sacked.
He 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 first 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 Mandelson just 24 hours ago.
He said: “This is yet another extraordinary error of judgment 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 he was appointed?
“What did the Prime Minister know at the point of his appointment?”
On Wednesday, 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 messages, 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 him to go.
And 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?”
Previously, Labour deputy leadership hopeful Bell Ribeiro-Addy called for an investigation by Sir Keir’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, saying: “There will be a huge amount of concern, and if the outcome is that he should resign, he should.”
Meanwhile, Ian Byrne, who had the Labour whip restored in February after being suspended following a vote on the two-child benefit cap, told The Independent: “MPs get suspended by the party, like I did, for voting against putting children and disabled people into poverty, but calling the world’s most infamous paedophile and child-trafficker your ‘best pal’, amongst other comments, that’s OK! It stinks to high heaven.”
While Lord Mandelson has insisted he regrets ever meeting Epstein, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph has detailed a two-decade friendship between the pair, which lasted even after Epstein was jailed for a child sex offence in 2008.
They include claims that Epstein brokered a deal involving Mr Mandelson, who was then the Labour business secretary, over 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 them 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 they know that I’m going to profoundly regret ever having met him and been introduced to him in the first place.”
