British police arrested former UK ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson on Monday in a probe linked to his ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. London’s Metropolitan Police said officers had arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office; the individual was taken to a London police station for questioning and subsequently released on bail pending further investigation.
Police did not name Mandelson in their statement, but he was previously identified and was filmed being led from his London home to an unmarked police vehicle. Authorities say he is suspected of passing sensitive information to Epstein while serving 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 his links to Epstein emerged in documents released by the US Department of Justice, known as the “Epstein files.” A senior figure in the rebranding of the Labour Party as “New Labour” in the 1990s, Mandelson held several ministerial roles under Tony Blair and earned the nickname “Prince of Darkness” for his skills in political communications. He was awarded a life peerage in 2008, allowing him to sit in the House of Lords and hold ministerial office despite not being an elected MP.
Mandelson faces suspicion of “misconduct in public office,” the same alleged offence under investigation in the case of Prince Andrew (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor). Prosecutors must show a public office holder willfully engaged in misconduct that abused the public’s trust and acted without reasonable excuse. Mandelson denies any wrongdoing and, according to the BBC, maintains he “has not acted in any way criminally.”
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah