Almost exactly a year ago, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood next to Peter Mandelson, his new ambassador to the United States, during a welcome reception at the diplomat’s residence in Washington D.C.
Both men were beaming as they celebrated Mr. Mandelson’s return to the corridors of power.
The exuberance has faded. On Monday afternoon, the British police arrested Mr. Mandelson at his home in London following allegations that he had passed confidential government information to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during an earlier period when Mr. Mandelson served in government.
For Mr. Mandelson, a towering figure in British politics for more than four decades, the arrest is the culmination of a yearlong fall from grace that has taken him from the pinnacle of global diplomacy to a holding room in a local police station in central London.
And for Mr. Starmer, the spectacle of Mr. Mandelson in custody is the latest accelerant on a political scandal that had already rocked the governing Labour Party. It faces a critical special election outside Manchester, northern England, on Thursday.
Since discovering details of Mr. Mandelson’s long friendship with Mr. Epstein, Mr. Starmer has fired the ambassador, stripped him of his “right honorable” title and pressured him to resign from the House of Lords.
All of that has proved too little, even for Mr. Starmer’s Labour Party allies, who have demanded to be told what the prime minister knew about Mr. Mandelson’s relationship with Mr. Epstein, and when he knew it.
Mr. Starmer tapped Mr. Mandelson to be Britain’s top U.S. envoy because of his reputation as a fierce political operator who was sometimes called the “prince of darkness.” But the prime minister’s critics argue that it was a poor decision to bring him back into the government since his friendship with Mr. Epstein was already known. Mr. Starmer has accused Mr. Mandelson of lying about the extent of his ongoing contact with Mr. Epstein.
So far, Mr. Starmer — already politically damaged by a year of flip-flops on key parts of his policy agenda and a sagging economy — has survived the Mandelson affair, as it has become known in Britain. But the arrest will keep it in the headlines. And the government is being forced by angry lawmakers to release thousands of pages of internal documents about Mr. Starmer’s decision to appoint Mr. Mandelson. The first of those are expected in early March.
“When epic scandals of this kind get going in Britain, the political establishment, you know, looks for scapegoats,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “Anybody who ever goes into politics in Britain has to know it’s like that. And if the going gets very bad, it gets very, very bad.”
Mr. Mandelson’s ties to Mr. Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, were revealed in sometimes raunchy text and email exchanges that were included in the latest tranche of documents released by the U.S. Justice Department. The so-called Epstein files also led recently to the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, on suspicion of the same charge — misconduct in public office. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles III, has denied wrongdoing.
Mr. Mandelson has not been charged with a crime and has not publicly commented in recent weeks. Previously, he has said that he regrets his association with Mr. Epstein and that the documents released by the Department of Justice did not “indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanor on my part.”
His questioning by the police on Monday underscored both the seriousness of the allegations against him and the potentially dire implications for the Labour Party he has helped to build for most of his political career. Mr. Mandelson was released from custody on bail on Monday evening.
It was just two weeks ago that the initial news about Mr. Mandelson caused a near panic among some Labour lawmakers. One of Mr. Starmer’s longtime supporters called for the prime minister’s resignation and only a last-minute rally of support by the members of his cabinet quieted a brewing revolt.
Since then, Mr. Starmer has been trying to improve his faltering approval rating by focusing attention on more positive news. Members of his cabinet spent “Apprenticeship Week” announcing policies to help young people find work. On Monday, the prime minister’s team unveiled policies aimed at improving the system of support available for children with special educational needs.
But the Epstein files are making it difficult for Mr. Starmer’s efforts to break through.
“Arresting Peter Mandelson will push absolutely everything off the news,” Professor Travers said, “as did Andrew.”
It is an especially turbulent time in Britain as revelations from the Epstein files rock both of the country’s oldest institutions: the government and the monarchy. Mr. Mandelson and Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor could face charges in the weeks or months ahead, with the potential of two very high-profile trials that generate headlines around the world.
For now, Mr. Starmer’s allies are nervously standing by him. Jacqui Smith, a minister in the government and an ally of the prime minister’s, told the Times of London radio station, “The police will do what they need to do and will pursue the investigation as they see fit, and I think that’s the most important thing for people like me to say.”
The turmoil surrounding Mr. Mandelson comes at a delicate time for the prime minister. On Thursday, a parliamentary district outside of Manchester will hold a special election to replace a lawmaker who resigned, and polling suggests that Mr. Starmer’s party could lose the seat in an area they have dominated for decades.
And in May, voters in Britain will go to the polls to elect lawmakers to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and to choose council members across England. Labour expects to lose hundreds of seats as polls show strength for Reform U.K., a right-wing populist party, and for the Green Party, which is winning over some left-wing progressive voters who are disappointed with Mr. Starmer’s agenda.
The prime minister’s adversaries in the opposition Conservative Party are also seizing on the news about Mr. Mandelson to score political points.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, called Mr. Mandelson’s arrest “the defining moment of Sir Keir’s premiership” and told reporters that Britons would not forget who had returned Mr. Mandelson to government service.
“Watching the man who he appointed to the highest position in our diplomatic service getting arrested by police,” she told reporters, “is an image which I think is going to stay with us for many, many years to come.”
Michael D. Shear is the chief U.K. correspondent for The New York Times, covering British politics and culture and diplomacy around the world.
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