Prime Minister Keir Starmer says former ambassador Peter Mandelson should no longer hold a seat in the upper house of parliament.
Published on February 3, 2026
Police in the United Kingdom have announced they are reviewing allegations of misconduct in public office following revelations that London’s former ambassador to Washington leaked confidential government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Metropolitan Police announced on Monday that Peter Mandelson shared government plans with Epstein while serving as a UK minister, following investigation files released by United States authorities.
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Mandelson, who served as business secretary under former prime minister Gordon Brown, briefed Epstein in 2009 about asset sales and tax changes under consideration in London, as well as plans for a 500 billion euro ($590bn) single currency bailout in 2010, according to emails released by the US Department of Justice on Friday.
“Following this publication and subsequent media reporting, the Met has received a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in public office. All reports will be reviewed to determine whether they meet the criminal threshold for investigation,” Metropolitan Police Commander Ella Marriott said in a statement.
“As with any matter, when new and relevant information is brought to our attention we will evaluate it and investigate as appropriate,” Marriott added.
The Metropolitan Police did not name Mandelson, but the leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party said his statement came after he wrote to the police commissioner calling for an investigation into the former ambassador over alleged misconduct in public office.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starr announced an investigation into Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.
Starmer, who last year ousted Mandelson as London’s top diplomat in Washington after correspondence revealing his relationship with Epstein, said the former minister should lose his lifetime appointment in the UK’s upper house of parliament.
On Sunday, Mandelson resigned from the ruling Labor Party, whose return to electoral dominance he helped engineer in the 1990s, citing a desire to avoid further embarrassment for his colleagues.
In further fallout in the UK on Monday, a charity founded by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson announced it would close “for the foreseeable future” amid revelations about her friendly relationship with Epstein.
“Our chair Sarah Ferguson and the board of trustees have agreed that with regret the charity will soon be closing for the foreseeable future,” a spokeswoman said in a statement, without elaborating on the reason for the closure.
Separately on Monday, the US Justice Department said it had removed thousands of files related to Epstein from the internet after lawyers representing some of his alleged victims said inadequate redactions in the latest release of documents revealed their identities.