Peter Mandelson, who was fired as Britain’s ambassador to Washington in September over his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested on Monday by the British police on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
His arrest comes days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was also detained for several hours by the British police on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The arrest on Monday amounted to another blow for Mr. Mandelson, who had spent four decades in British politics.
A risky choice for ambassador
Mr. Mandelson was, to some observers, a risky choice to be Britain’s envoy to the United States.
Even then, it was known that he had an association with Mr. Epstein, although Prime Minister Keir Starmer has subsequently said that Mr. Mandelson had lied about the extent of his contacts. In a checkered political career, Mr. Mandelson was forced twice to resign from government over personal scandals.
He also faced fierce criticism from some allies of President Trump over his previous description of the president as a “white nationalist” and a “danger to the world.”
Mr. Mandelson, 72, however, quickly became a fixture in Washington social circles and a regular visitor to the White House.
Then, seven months into the job, his old friendship with Mr. Epstein came back to haunt him.
Emails first published by Bloomberg News showed “that the depth and extent” of their relationship had been “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement.
Mr. Starmer then fired him.
Center of a criminal investigation
This year, the storm intensified. The latest tranche of Epstein files, released by the U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 30, revealed a much closer friendship between Mr. Mandelson and Mr. Epstein, the sex offender and disgraced financier, than he had previously acknowledged.
The files appeared to show that, while in government, Mr. Mandelson might have provided confidential and market sensitive information to Mr. Epstein.
This month, the British police began a criminal investigation into Mr. Mandelson in connection with possible “misconduct in public office offenses.”
Mr. Mandelson has not been charged with a crime. He also has not publicly commented since he resigned from the Labour Party on Feb. 1, but previously said that the documents released by the Justice Department did not “indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanor on my part.”
A political strategist
Mr. Mandelson first entered Parliament in 1992 as a lawmaker for Labour and helped create the New Labour message that propelled Tony Blair into 10 Downing Street as prime minister in 1997.
Mr. Mandelson twice resigned from government posts over scandals of his own making: once, in 1998, for an undeclared home loan he had received from a colleague, and then in 2001 over accusations he had tried to influence a passport application for a donor.
He went on to serve as the European Union’s trade commissioner from 2004 to 2008 during negotiations on a global trading deal that ultimately collapsed. He was then summoned back to government in Britain. There, as a senior member of Mr. Brown’s cabinet, he received a seat in Parliament’s upper chamber and a new title: Lord Mandelson.
After Labour lost its majority in 2010, he co-founded an advisory business, with Mr. Epstein’s advice, the recently released documents show. That company, Global Counsel, entered an insolvency procedure last week after losing key clients.
Last year, Mr. Mandelson returned to public office as an ambassador to the United States.
A scandal shakes the government
The outrage over Mr. Mandelson’s ties to Mr. Epstein has shaken the highest level of British politics. The leader of the Scottish Labour Party called for Mr. Starmer to resign over his decision to appoint Mr. Mandelson as ambassador in Washington.
Mr. Starmer has, so far, hung onto his job. This month, he apologized to Mr. Epstein’s victims, saying in a speech that he should not have appointed Mr. Mandelson.
“I am sorry,” he said, adding, “Sorry that so many people with power failed you. Sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies.”
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
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