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MANCHESTER, England (CN) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday sacked the British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, after the release of fresh emails deepened scrutiny of his ties to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s office said the move was necessary after correspondence showed Mandelson stayed in regular contact with Epstein even after his 2008 conviction, including exchanges about business deals and travel.
In a statement, the foreign office said: “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.”
A batch of 100 private emails was published between the two, with the former ambassador expressing anger at Epstein’s prison term for soliciting sex from a minor. “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened," Mandelson wrote.
He went on to say, “You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.”
In another email, Mandelson shares affection for Epstein. “The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong,” he said. “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
The dismissal comes just one day after Starmer defended Mandelson in Parliament, insisting that “full due process was followed” in his appointment and telling lawmakers he retained “full confidence” in the ambassador.
It also marks the second high-profile departure from Starmer’s government in a week. The deputy leader Angela Rayner resigned following an ethics inquiry into her underpaying property tax.
A longtime Labour politician, Mandelson was one of the key architects of the New Labour project that led to a landslide victory for former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997.
The 71-year-old served in multiple ministerial positions, such as secretary for trade and industry, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, business secretary and most recently U.K. ambassador to the U.S., tasked with repairing Washington ties.
Controversy has also followed Mandelson, having to resign twice from office: once in 1998 when it emerged that he had borrowed a large sum of money from a cabinet minister to buy a house, and again in 2001 after a dispute about a passport application from an Indian billionaire.
Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was already known, but new disclosures showing he stayed in contact after Epstein’s conviction forced the prime minister to act.
The government has named diplomat Tom Fletcher as interim ambassador in Washington, with one of his first tasks to handle U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the U.K. next Tuesday.
Fletcher is a former Downing Street adviser on international affairs and has served in senior roles in the Middle East and at the United Nations. He also served as the communications secretary for Queen Elizabeth II between 2013 and 2016.
Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.
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