FORMER ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson said on Sunday that he had resigned from the Labour Party following new reports about his links with late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, 72, said he was stepping down to avoid causing “further embarrassment” to the party after newly released documents from the US Department of Justice revived scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein.
“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this,” Mandelson said in a letter to the Labour Party that was shared with British media.
Mandelson said allegations that Epstein made financial payments to him were false and said he would investigate them. “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,” he 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,” the letter said.
Bank records released by the US Department of Justice suggest Epstein transferred a total of $75,000 (55,000 pounds) in three payments to bank accounts linked to Mandelson between 2003 and 2004. The Financial Times reported that the files showed accounts connected to Mandelson had received $75,000.
Speaking earlier on Sunday on the BBC, Mandelson said he had no memory of the transfers and did not know whether the documents were authentic.
Mandelson also appears in newly released, undated photographs, wearing a T-shirt and underwear beside a woman whose face has been redacted by US authorities. He told the BBC he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.
Other documents suggest Epstein sent 10,000 pounds in 2009 to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, Mandelson’s partner, at a time when Mandelson was serving as a government minister.
Mandelson was removed from his post as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in September after being appointed by Starmer in late 2024. He had apologised in January for maintaining his friendship with Epstein, having initially refused to do so on the grounds that he was not complicit.
Olivia Bailey, a minister in Britain’s Department for Education, told Times Radio on Monday that it was “right” Mandelson was no longer a member of the Labour Party.
During the late 1990s, Mandelson played a key role in Labour’s electoral success as Tony Blair became prime minister. His earlier political career included resignations in 1998 over a loan used to buy a house, and in 2001 over his alleged involvement in a passport scandal involving an Indian billionaire. He was later cleared of acting improperly.
Mandelson, a former European Union trade commissioner, is on leave of absence as a member of the upper house of Britain’s national parliament.
Former Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles last year over his ties to Epstein, was also named in the files released on Friday. A second woman alleged on Sunday that Epstein sent her to Britain in 2010 for a sexual encounter with Andrew, her lawyer told the BBC.
Separately, Starmer said on Saturday that Prince Andrew should testify before a US congressional committee following new revelations about his links to Epstein.
(With inputs from agencies)
