UK ex-envoy to US Mandelson briefly arrested amid Epstein probe

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LONDON — Former British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson was arrested by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He was later released on bail, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said early Tuesday.

Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain's diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear.

Police earlier this month began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein.

Mandelson, a veteran Labour Party politician, has been accused of passing market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary in the UK government.

The revelations from the latest tranche of Epstein files led to Mandelson’s resignation from the Labour Party earlier this month, having quit the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Britain’s parliament, the same week.

The unfolding Mandelson scandal threatened to topple Starmer’s premiership, with the bitter fallout leading to the resignations of key advisers and growing calls from senior Labour Party figures for the British prime minister to step down.

The British leader faced questions over how much he knew about the extent of Mandelson’s close relationship with the late sex offender when he appointed him as ambassador.

Mandelson has not publicly commented on these latest allegations. He has previously apologized for his association with Epstein.

British MPs have been told the first tranche of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador is expected “very shortly in early March.”

Related Article

Israeli settlers vandalize West Bank mosque 

However, some correspondence between the former MP and Downing Street will be delayed due to the “Metropolitan Police interest,” Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister told the House of Commons on Monday.

Mandelson, widely known in political circles as the “Prince of Darkness” for his Machiavellian skills, became Labour’s director of communications in the 1980s. He helped transform the party into a globalist, capital-friendly project known as “New Labour,” that eventually won a landslide election in 1997 under Tony Blair.

His arrest comes after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of Britain’s King Charles III, was arrested on his 66th birthday last week following further revelations about the former prince’s relationship with Epstein.

Mountbatten-Windsor became the first member of the UK royal family to be arrested in modern history following an early morning raid at his home on the Sandringham estate, also on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The former prince was released “under investigation” late Thursday evening, after spending 10 hours in a police station in Norfolk, England.

While police did not say what led to Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, they had previously said they were assessing whether he shared confidential information with Epstein during his decade as a UK trade envoy.

The offense of misconduct in public office is a notoriously difficult-to-prosecute law that experts have criticized for lacking clarity. — Agencies