British police arrested former UK ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson on Monday in a probe linked to his connections with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. London’s Metropolitan Police said officers detained a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office; he was taken to a London police station for questioning and later released on bail while inquiries continue.
The force did not name Mandelson in its statement, but he had already been publicly identified and was filmed being led from his London home into an unmarked police vehicle. Police allege he is suspected of passing sensitive information to Epstein during his time as business secretary from 2008 to 2010 under then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of sex offenses involving a minor.
Mandelson served as the UK ambassador to the US from February to September last year but was dismissed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer after documents disclosed by the US Department of Justice, known as the “Epstein files,” revealed his links to Epstein. A central figure in the Labour Party’s transformation into “New Labour” in the 1990s, Mandelson held multiple ministerial posts under Tony Blair and was nicknamed the “Prince of Darkness” for his political communications acumen. He was granted a life peerage in 2008, which enabled him to sit in the House of Lords and serve in ministerial roles despite not being an elected MP.
The charge being investigated, misconduct in public office, is the same alleged offence examined in the case involving Prince Andrew. To secure a prosecution, prosecutors must show a public officeholder willfully engaged in misconduct that abused the public’s trust and acted without reasonable excuse. Mandelson has denied any criminal behaviour; according to the BBC he says he “has not acted in any way criminally.”
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah