By Obinna Uballa
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sacked Peter Mandelson as the country’s ambassador to the United States after a storm of revelations about his long-standing ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson’s sack came after United States lawmakers released Epstein’s 2003 “birthday book,” in which the veteran Labour politician wrote a fawning handwritten note describing the disgraced financier as “my best pal.”
The scandal deepened on Wednesday following the publication of a cache of emails by Bloomberg, showing Mandelson’s continued support for Epstein even after his 2008 conviction on sex offences, CNN reported.
In one exchange, Mandelson reportedly assured Epstein: “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” advising him to fight back using tactics from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, according to the report.
The Foreign Office said the emails revealed “a materially different” level of closeness than had been disclosed at the time of Mandelson’s appointment. It announced his withdrawal “with immediate effect,” citing the need to respect the victims of Epstein’s crimes.
Analysts say the dismissal is a brutal blow to Starmer, who only a day earlier had defended Mandelson in Parliament, insisting he retained his “full confidence.” It also marks the third time Mandelson has been forced from high office, following earlier resignations in 1998 and 2001 over separate scandals.
The revelations could not come at a worse moment for Starmer, observers note. He has now lost two senior officials in a single week, after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned over a tax scandal. The crisis also erupts days before President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK, which includes a banquet at Windsor Castle with King Charles III.
Mandelson, long dubbed Labour’s “Prince of Darkness” for his political cunning, was initially seen as a shrewd choice to navigate Trump’s Washington. He had played a central role in sealing a UK-US trade deal earlier this year, earning praise from Trump for his “beautiful accent.”
But analysts say the Epstein scandal has now destroyed his credibility. The damning note in the “birthday book,” interspersed with photos of Mandelson and Epstein together, declared: “Wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal.”
Mandelson later admitted to The Sun in the UK that the words were “very embarrassing” but insisted they were written before Epstein’s conviction. He also claimed he had been misled by Epstein’s denials.
Still, the Foreign Office said his suggestion that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful amounted to “new information” that fatally undermined his position.
