Britain’s ambassador to the United States was fired after newly surfaced emails revealed the extent of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Peter Mandelson was stood down from his role as envoy to Washington by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, making him the first politician to be dumped over his friendship with the late sex offender.
With the scandal threatening to overshadow Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K. next week, the British Foreign Office confirmed Mandelson’s removal after parliament was told Starmer had ordered his withdrawal “with immediate effect.”
The diplomatic incident—which is still likely to cause headaches for both Starmer and Trump during the president’s trip across the Atlantic—followed the release on Wednesday of bombshell messages sent by Mandelson before Epstein reported to jail in 2008 after his conviction for soliciting sex from a minor.
The Foreign Office told the Daily Beast in a statement: “In light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador.”
“The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment,” the spokesperson said.
“In particular, Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information,” the spokesperson added. “In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes, he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
Mandelson, a former senior minister in Tony Blair’s Labour government during the late 1990s and 2000s, has long been dogged by his links to the disgraced financier, whom he once described as his “best pal.” That comment was included in a book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003—which also included a letter that President Trump has denied writing.
In an email sent to Epstein the day before he was jailed in 2008, Mandelson urged the disgraced financier to “fight for early release” and assured him that “your friends stay with you and love you.”
“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” Mandelson wrote in messages obtained by Bloomberg. “I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain.”
The cache also features earlier chatter about Mandelson’s trips to “the island,” in reference to Epstein’s Little Saint James haven in the Virgin Islands.
Seventeen years on, and six years after the death in custody of Epstein as he waited to face child sex trafficking charges in 2019, the emergence of the trove of emails cost Mandelson his job.
Downing Street’s abrupt U-turn followed 48 hours of escalating fury.
On Wednesday, Mandelson himself conceded in an interview with The Sun that there were “very embarrassing” details still to emerge—even as Starmer publicly insisted he retained “confidence” in his envoy.
Following the release of the new emails, pressure intensified after ministers branded the messages “disturbing,” with opposition parties demanding Mandelson’s head and the release of vetting documents.
Amid a diplomatic scramble in London ahead of Trump’s imminent arrival—who has also had to fend off questions about his own friendship with Epstein—the British government’s hand was forced.
Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told parliament there had been a “routine, extensive vetting and background checks as a matter of course” before Mandelson’s appointment.
But Ed Davey, the leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats party, demanded that Starmer explain Mandelson’s appointment “in the first place, given everything the government knew then.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Downing Street and Peter Mandelson for comment.
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