{"id":1745,"date":"2025-09-11T22:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:30:20","slug":"starmer-sacks-mandelson-as-uk-ambassador-to-us-over-epstein-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=1745","title":{"rendered":"Starmer sacks Mandelson as UK ambassador to US over Epstein links"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">UK leader Keir Starmer sacked his ambassador in Washington Peter Mandelson on Thursday following &#8220;reprehensible&#8221; fresh revelations about the diplomat&#8217;s friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dubbed the &#8220;Prince of Darkness&#8221; during his years as a media spin doctor, Mandelson was twice forced to resign from Tony Blair&#8217;s Labour government in the late 1990s and early 2000s over allegations of misconduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">His dismissal as US envoy causes a political and diplomatic headache for the British prime minister as he prepares for next week&#8217;s visit of US President Donald Trump, who is himself facing questions over his ties to Epstein.<\/p>\n<div class=\"max-md:faux-bleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 hidden pb-5 md:block\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div id=\"_R_28gt56mhak5clubsnm6fbH1_\" class=\"flex ad-container\">\n<div id=\"_R_28gt56mhak5clubsnm6fb_\" class=\"flex\" data-google-query-id=\"CNnKpp7f0Y8DFUr0EQgdK5QI3Q\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/22888152279\/us\/ynews\/ros\/dt\/us_ynews_ros_dt_mid_center_0__container__\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/22888152279\/us\/ynews\/ros\/dt\/us_ynews_ros_dt_mid_center_0\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" src=\"https:\/\/46d9f1fa00b47affdf9457dc8a8d16af.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-45\/html\/container.html\" name=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" data-is-safeframe=\"true\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-google-container-id=\"2\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It is the second high-profile departure from the UK government in the past week, after Starmer&#8217;s former deputy Angela Rayner resigned last Friday for underpaying a property tax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Starmer is still trying to reboot his increasingly unpopular government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The prime minister asked top diplomat Yvette Cooper to withdraw Mandelson after emails he wrote to Epstein after he was convicted came to light, her office said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson&#8217;s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;In particular Peter Mandelson&#8217;s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein&#8217;s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein&#8217;s crimes he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a letter to embassy staff, reported by the BBC, Mandelson called serving in the role the &#8220;privilege of my life&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The circumstances surrounding the announcement today are ones which I deeply regret,&#8221; the letter added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I continue to feel utterly awful about my association with Epstein 20 years ago and the plight of his victims.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mandelson said he was departing with Anglo-American relations in &#8220;really good condition&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The sacking followed Bloomberg reporting that Mandelson sent supportive messages to Epstein while the financier was being investigated in the United States for sexual offences in 2008.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Labour party grandee sent emails telling Epstein he was following closely and &#8220;here whenever you need&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mandelson also reportedly told Epstein to &#8220;fight for early release&#8221; shortly before he received an 18-month sentence for admitting procuring a child for prostitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I think the world of you,&#8221; Mandelson, a former Labour minister and ex-European trade commissioner, wrote the day before Epstein began his sentence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A spokesman for Starmer said it was &#8220;self-evident&#8221; the prime minister &#8220;found the content of these emails reprehensible&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He denied claims that Starmer had shown poor judgement by appointing Mandelson less than a year ago when it had been publicly known that he had stayed friends with Epstein after his conviction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8211; &#8216;Best pal&#8217; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The Prime Minister has taken prompt and decisive action,&#8221; the spokesman insisted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Following the newspaper reports, the 71-year-old Mandelson told the BBC that he had &#8220;relied on assurances of (Epstein&#8217;s) innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;His lawyers claimed that it was a shakedown of him, a criminal conspiracy. I foolishly relied on their word which I regret to this day,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">His position appeared increasingly precarious after one government minister said he was &#8220;completely disgusted&#8221; by the messages while another said the emails were &#8220;really disturbing and sickening&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Several Labour MPs had publicly urged Starmer to fire Mandelson. Some are now calling for him to quit the UK parliament&#8217;s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The smooth-talking political veteran had only started in the key diplomatic post earlier this year, tasked with building a close relationship with Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But his position began to become untenable after it emerged that Mandelson called Epstein his &#8220;best pal&#8221; and an &#8220;intelligent, sharp-witted man&#8221; in a 2003 letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The letter was one of many included in a book compiled to mark the now notorious financier&#8217;s 50th birthday. Its contents were published by a US congressional panel investigating Epstein&#8217;s sex crimes case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UK leader Keir Starmer sacked his ambassador in Washington Peter Mandelson on Thursday following &#8220;reprehensible&#8221; fresh revelations about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","category-us"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1747,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/1747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}