UK ambassador to Washington fired over links to Jeffrey Epstein

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has dismissed his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, following new revelations about his links to the late financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 

In a statement in the UK House of Commons on Thursday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said the decision came amid the publication this week of emails Mandelson sent to Epstein in the 2000s, in which he pledged support for the convict even when he was facing jail for sex offenses.

“In light of the additional information in the emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States,” the foreign minister said.

The British Foreign Office justified Mandelson’s appointment as the UK envoy to the US, saying the emails showed that the “depth and extent” of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was “materially different” from what was known when he was given the job.

British media outlets published on Wednesday emails that they said showed Mandelson telling Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

“I think the world of you,” Mandelson told Epstein before he began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

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Mandelson also suggested that Epstein’s first conviction in 2008 was “wrongful and should be challenged.”

Only a day before firing Mandelson, Starmer said he had “confidence” in him despite being aware of his envoy’s link to the convicted pedophile.

It’s the latest blow to the British prime minister ahead of a state visit by US President Donald Trump to the UK next week that is expected to prompt protests.

The UK envoy has voiced his deep regret over his previous links with Epstein and said he knew nothing about his criminal activities.

Despite a so-called “extensive” vetting process, Mandelson was appointed ambassador to Washington by Starmer in December 2024 in the wake of the Labour Party’s election victory and took up his post in February this year.

His ouster occurred after UK Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released, on Monday, a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein signed by Donald Trump. 

The letter was part of a 50th birthday album compiled in 2003 for Epstein, which included names of other prominent figures such as former President Bill Clinton and attorney Alan Dershowitz in a “friends” section, as well as other letters with sexually provocative language.

In that album, Mandelson called Epstein “my best pal” in a handwritten note.

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Last week, Starmer also saw his deputy, Angela Rayner, quit over a tax error on a home purchase.

Starmer’s judgment over appointing Mandelson is problematic since the 71-year-old diplomat has a scandal-ridden career.

In 1998, the so-called noble Lord Mandelson had received a £373,000 loan secretly from fellow Labour minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a house in London without declaring the loan to his building society and failed to disclose it to his colleagues in government, forcing him to resign as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Moreover, in 2001, he reportedly helped his business syndicate, which included two Indian businessmen, obtain British passports.

These businessmen were involved in a major UK government project worth £789 million to build a massive exhibition space in London, aimed at celebrating the turn of the millennium in the year 2000.

Known as “Prince of Darkness,” his skills to solicit under-the-table deals helped the British government persuade Trump not to slap heavy tariffs on British goods.

He had once called Trump a “danger to the world” — words he later said were “ill-judged and wrong.”

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