British Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson (R), who was fired Thursday, stands in the Oval Office in May as U.S. President Donald Trump unveils a landmark U.S.-U.K. trade agreement. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday fired U.S. Ambassador Peter Mandelson amid revelations of a close friendship with convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that the 71-year-old had been dismissed after communications emerged showing the “depth and extent” of his relationship with Epstein was “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.”
“In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes, he has been withdrawn as Ambassador with immediate effect.”
The firing came after Conservative opposition and politicians across the political spectrum called for Mandelson to be recalled to London and replaced after a House committee released records from Epstein’s estate in which Mandelson referred to Epstein as his “best pal.”
There was uproar in the House of Commons on Wednesday as Starmer insisted Mandelson continued to retain his backing, was “playing an important role” in U.K.-U.S. relations and that “full due process” was undertaken before his appointment in December.
Leading a chorus of condemnation, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called the situation disgraceful.
“These are sickening revelations. Mandelson’s position is untenable. Why did Starmer defend him? How was ‘full due process followed’? This is a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better. Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now,” Badenoch wrote earlier in a post on X.
Lawmakers in Starmer’s own Labour Party had also called for Mandelson to go, led by south London MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Richard Burgon, the MP for Leeds East, who said Mandelson “should never have been appointed.
Nadia Whittome, the representative for Nottingham East, said it was an open secret that Mandelson “remained close to Epstein even after he was convicted of sex offenses.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davy demanded Starmer tell Parliament what “other compromising material” on Mandelson the Americans might be about to make public.
In an interview with Harry Cole, editor of the, U.S. edition of The Sun on Wednesday, Mandelson did not dispute the material, a 10-page, handwritten 50th birthday message to Epstein in 2003, released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and warned more “very embarrassing” revelations were likely to emerge.
The newspaper said it had also seen documents showing Mandelson offered moral support to Epstein during the years he was under investigation and urged him to fight for “early release” following a plea deal in the prostitution case.
The Telegraph earlier alleged that while serving as a senior minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour government, Mandelson and Epstein brokered a $1.3 billion business deal together.
The latest scandal comes just days after Starmer’s number two, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, was forced to resign for failing to pay the correct amount of tax on a $1 million property purchase.
Mandelson is credited with helping forge the strong relationship Downing Street enjoys with U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House and sealing an early U.K.-U.S. trade deal — putting Starmer under pressure to resolve the situation before U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Britain for a two-day state visit on Wednesday.
As ambassador, Mandelson would have been in London playing a key role in ensuring the visit is a success, but the controversy threatens to overshadow the event, disrupting Trump’s unprecedented second state visit.
That in turn could’ve proved embarrassing for Starmer and King Charles, who is hosting Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at Windsor Castle.
The same committee that made public the Mandelson letter also released Monday a birthday letter to Epstein, allegedly penned by Trump, placing Starmer in a hole where finding Mandelson unfit for office and firing him potentially shifts the spotlight onto Trump instead.
The White House on Wednesday categorically denied that Trump either wrote or signed the letter. Trump’s external legal team is suing the Wall Street Journal, which originally reported the existence of the letter in July.
