U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has fired British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson over his connection to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Thursday, Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said in the House of Commons that the decision came in the wake of the publication of emails Mandelson sent to Epstein in the 2000s, in which he gave his support to the disgraced financier even when he was facing jail for sex offences.
Doughty said the correspondence showed that the “depth and extent” of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein was “materially different” from what was known at the time of his appointment last year.
Peter Mandelson attends the King’s Trust 4th Annual Global Gala on May 1, 2025, in New York City.
Cindy Ord / WireImage
“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,” Doughty said.
He pointed to Mandelson’s suggestion in the emails that Epstein’s first conviction in 2008 was “wrongful and should be challenged.”
Mandelson, who took up his role in February, said in an interview with British journalist Harry Cole on Wednesday that he “deeply” regretted his friendship with Epstein, after a note he wrote to the convicted sex offender was released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee in a “birthday book” gifted to the former New York City businessman on his 50th birthday.
Part of Peter Mandelson’s note written to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday.
The U.S. Oversight Committee
Starmer initially showed support for Mandelson after the release of the note, stating that his government still had complete confidence in Mandelson and that it was “focused obviously on our relationship with the US, with President Trump coming for an unprecedented second state visit next week.”
Mandelson told Cole that he “accepted assurances that he [Epstein] had given me about his indictment, his original criminal case in Florida. Like very many people, I took that at face value,” a decision he said he wished he had never made.
Mandelson said Wednesday that he does not believe he is named in the Epstein files, but admitted there is no doubt there is more “correspondence” between him and Epstein that is “going to surface.”
The U.K. government announced that James Roscoe, deputy head of mission in Washington, will serve as interim ambassador and oversee U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit. Roscoe is a career diplomat and former communications chief to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Starmer’s judgment is being increasingly scrutinized, particularly over his appointment of Mandelson, who is no stranger to controversy, having twice resigned from former prime minister Tony Blair’s government in 1998 and 2001.
— With files from The Associated Press