Britain fired its ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, on Thursday after newly released emails revealed a closer relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than previously acknowledged, creating a major political crisis for Prime Minister Keir Starmer days before President Donald Trump's state visit to the U.K.
"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 Foreign Office said. It added that the correspondence showed "the depth and extent" of Mandelson's ties to Epstein were "materially different from that known at the time of his appointment."
The disclosures included emails in which Mandelson expressed sympathy for Epstein and offered to discuss his 2008 Florida case with political contacts. "I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened," Mandelson wrote in one message, even advising Epstein to "fight back" using Sun Tzu's Art of War. The Foreign Office said Mandelson's suggestion that Epstein's conviction was wrongful constituted "new information."
Mandelson, a former Labour Party power broker and architect of Tony Blair's New Labour project, initially retained Starmer's backing when U.S. lawmakers earlier this week released Epstein's 50th birthday book containing a handwritten note in which Mandelson called the financier "my best pal." But after Bloomberg published the email cache, Starmer reversed course amid pressure from within his party.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper before his firing, Mandelson said he felt a "profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women who suffered as a result of his behavior and his illegal criminal activities." He added, "I feel a tremendous sense of regret not only that I met him in the first place, but that I continued the association and I took at face value the lies that he fed me and many others."
The ouster marks the third time Mandelson has been forced out of a senior government role. He resigned twice under Blair-first in 1998 for failing to declare a loan from a millionaire colleague, and again in 2001 over allegations of improperly influencing a passport application for a wealthy donor-before serving as European trade commissioner and later business secretary under Gordon Brown.
Mandelson's appointment last year was initially seen as a political coup for Starmer. The former cabinet minister helped deliver a U.S.-U.K. trade deal earlier this year and was praised by Trump in the Oval Office for his "beautiful" accent. But the scandal has now left Starmer without two senior officials in one week, after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned Friday over tax issues.
