The British government is facing calls to recall its ambassador to the United States, including from its own lawmakers, as revelations about the depth of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein continue to emerge.
Veteran left-wing political fixer Peter Mandelson, the man chosen to be Britain’s man in Washington by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, has faced fresh revelations about his relationship to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and even appeared to admit more “very embarrassing” material is yet to come in an interview. Several lawmakers in the United Kingdom including the leader of the opposition and even lawmakers from Starmer’s own Labour party have said he should be removed from post.
Starmer’s Labour government has had an uphill battle in ingratiating itself with the Trump administration, particularly given many of its leading figures have been extremely rude about President Trump in the past, and Lord Mandelson has been an important part of that push to mend bridges.
The intensified scrutiny comes after British broadsheet The Daily Telegraph revealed overnight that Mandelson had business dealings with Epstein even after he was convicted of child sex offences. Per the report, he brokered a “billion-pound deal” with him “only months after Epstein had been released from prison” while Mandelson was business secretary in the previous Labour government in 2010.
Days earlier, a pages-long handwritten note by Mandelson to Epstein in 2003 for a 50th birthday present emerged and showed, among other things, the British politician had stated of Epstein: “he remains my best pal!… we love you!!”. Mandelson has asserted the note was written years before Epstein’s wrongdoing became public and that he had never been aware of or witnessed any criminality during his friendship.
Speaking in an interview with Harry Cole published on Wednesday morning, Mandelson repeatedly expressed his regret at ever having known Epstein, and of continuing his relationship with him after his abuses had become known. He said their friendship had been “like an albatross around my neck” and he feels a “profound sense of sympathy” for Epstein’s victims.
Mandelson suggested he saw a different side to Epstein because, as a gay man, Epstein never thought to offer to introduce him to young women and girls. He said Epstein was a “charismatic liar” and that he regretted falling for his lies.
But remarkably, the ambassador acknowledged that as embarrassing as what is in the public domain now may be, worse was yet to come. He said: “there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges between us, absolutely. And we know those are going to surface, we know they are going to come out, we know they are going to be very embarrassing”. Mandelson also appeared to tacitly deny having business dealings with Epstein, something which the Telegraph splash seems to contradict.
He said: “I haven’t discussed it with either the President or the Prime Minister and I hope I’m doing a good enough job as ambassador here in the United States”.
While UK Prime Minister Starmer has said he has confidence in Mandelson to continue as ambassador, he is facing mounting calls for him to be recalled. De Jure leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch said during the UK Parliament’s weekly questions-and-answers sessions on Wednesday: “The Daily Telegraph reports today that while Lord Mandelson was business secretary, he brokered a deal with Jeffrey Epstein while he was business secretary, and that this occurred after Epstein had been convicted of child sex offences. Given this new information, does the prime minister really think it is tenable for our ambassador to remain in post?”.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who is now standing to be deputy leader of Starmer’s Labour Party after he had to sack his deputy Prime Minister last week, became the first of Starmer’s colleagues to call for Mandelson to go on Wednesday, although others subsequently followed. She told the i newspaper that it would “disturb quite a few people” if Mandelson remained in post, and that there should now be an investigation.
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