LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Former British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson was arrested by London police on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations about his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious post in the British diplomatic service in September as the depth of his friendship with Epstein began to become clear.
Police this month launched a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein.
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“Officers arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement in connection with an investigation into a former government minister.
Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the US Department of Justice in late January, showed that the two men had a closer relationship than was publicly known, and that Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in the governmentof former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Mandelson, who this month resigned from Starmer’s Labor Party and left his position in the upper house of Parliament, previously said he “deeply” regretted his past association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.
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Last week, King Charles’s younger brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was also arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following allegations that he sent confidential government documents to Epstein. He has always denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein.
