Key points
- US documents allege Epstein made payments
- Mandelson denies memory of any transfers
- Resignation aimed to avoid party embarrassment
LONDON, United Kingdom: Former British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday, saying he wanted to avoid bringing the party “further embarrassment” after newly released US documents renewed scrutiny of his past links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to AFP, Mandelson, 72, who was dismissed as Britain’s ambassador to the United States last year because of his association with Epstein, is alleged to have received several payments from Epstein in the early 2000s. The claims emerged from documents released on Friday by the US Department of Justice and reported in British media.
“Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me,” Mandelson wrote in a letter to Labour general secretary Hollie Ridley.
“While doing this, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party,” he added, expressing that he felt “regretful and sorry about this”.
Bank records included in the Justice Department release suggest Epstein transferred a total of $75,000 (£55,000) in three payments to accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.
Ambassadorial post
Speaking earlier on the BBC, Mandelson said he had no memory of the transfers and questioned whether the documents were authentic.
He also appears in newly released, undated photographs, wearing a T-shirt and underwear beside a woman whose face has been redacted. Mandelson told the BBC he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.
Other documents indicate Epstein sent £10,000 in 2009 to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, Mandelson’s partner, while Mandelson was serving as a government minister.
Mandelson was removed from his ambassadorial post in September, after being appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in late 2024. He apologised in January for continuing his friendship with Epstein.
Former Prince Andrew, stripped of royal titles last year over his Epstein ties, was also named in the files. A second woman alleged Sunday that Epstein sent her to Britain in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Andrew, her lawyer told the BBC.
