British envoy to US Peter Mandelson (AP file photo)
Former British ambassador to the United States and former minister Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday, saying he did not want to cause it “further embarrassment” after newly released US documents renewed scrutiny of his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Mandelson, 72, had been removed as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last year over his association with Epstein. The latest documents, released on Friday by the US department of justice and reported by British media, allege that Epstein made several payments to Mandelson in the early 2000s.In a letter to Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley, Mandelson wrote: “Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.”
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“While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party,” he added, saying he felt “regretful and sorry about this”.According to bank records released by the US justice department, Epstein allegedly transferred a total of $75,000 (£55,000) in three payments to accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.Speaking earlier on the BBC, Mandelson said he had no memory of the transfers and questioned whether the documents were genuine. He also appears in newly released, undated photographs alongside a woman whose face has been redacted by US authorities.“I cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were,” he told the BBC.Other documents suggest Epstein sent £10,000 in 2009 to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, Mandelson’s partner, while Mandelson was serving as a government minister.Mandelson was removed from his ambassadorial post in September, having been appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in late 2024. He had apologised in January for maintaining a friendship with Epstein.Former Prince Andrew, who lost his royal titles last year over his Epstein links, was also named in the newly released files. A second woman alleged on Sunday that Epstein sent her to Britain in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Andrew, her lawyer told the BBC.
