Peter Mandelson has resigned his membership of the Labour party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after more revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, featured in documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday related to the convicted sex offender.
Mandelson said he had written on Sunday evening to Hollie Ridley, the general secretary of the Labour party, to say he was resigning his party membership. His letter stated: “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this. 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. 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 documents appear to show three separate payments of $25,000 from Epstein’s JP Morgan bank accounts referencing the former UK business secretary. Contacted about the statements, Mandelson said: “I have no record and no recollection of receiving these sums and do not know if the documents are authentic.” He reiterated that he had been wrong to believe Epstein and continue his association with him, adding: “I deeply regret doing so and apologise unequivocally to the women and girls who suffered.”
A Conservative party spokesperson called for an independent investigation into Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, stating: “Lord Mandelson is completely disgraced. Yet Keir Starmer lacked the backbone to take action, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labour party instead of kicking him out… Given the prime minister’s appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation.”
On Sunday, the housing, communities and local government secretary, Steve Reed, said Mandelson had “a moral obligation” to share what he knew about the disgraced financier. He told Sky News that anyone with information or evidence should share it “whether that is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, whether it’s Lord Mandelson, or whether it’s anybody else”. Reed refused to be drawn on whether Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage.
