(Bloomberg) — UK police arrested Labor Party grandee Peter Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office after the US Department of Justice released emails allegedly showing him forwarding government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The arrest comes after police searched two properties linked to the former ambassador to the US last week as part of their criminal probe, which was spurred by the publication of the email cache more than three weeks ago. Some of those missives allegedly showed Mandelson disclosed potentially market-sensitive information to Epstein while serving as a UK government minister.
Mandelson hasn’t been charged, and a lawyer for the former envoy declined to comment.
The arrest deepens the crisis that’s engulfed Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his decision in late 2024 to appoint Mandelson as US envoy, despite his known links to Epstein. In the wake of the fresh revelations stemming from the DOJ emails, the premier’s chief of staff, communications chief and cabinet secretary all quit their posts, while some Labor MPs have publicly called for Starmer himself to go.
The prime minister had brought back Mandelson — who had extensive experience in trade — to help manage US ties after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his ensuing tariff war. Starmer then fired him in September after a Bloomberg News investigation revealed the depths of his ties to Epstein, but has nevertheless faced intensified criticism over his judgment in hiring Mandelson in the first place.
Mandelson’s detention comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of the UK’s King Charles, was also arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office after his own — separate — emails with Epstein allegedly showed him disclosing government information to the pedophile financier. Andrew was released without charge on the same day.
In the House of Commons on Feb. 4, Starmer was forced to concede that Mandelson’s long-term relationship with Epstein had been mentioned during the vetting procedure that preceded his appointment as US envoy.
The House of Commons earlier this month passed a motion forcing the government to release documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment, with Parliament’s cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee playing a role in reviewing papers the government wants to withhold due to national security concerns.
On Monday, Cabinet Office Minister Darren Jones told the Commons the government will release those papers in tranches, with the first set likely in “early March.”
Under the terms of the motion, the government must disclose communications between Mandelson and ministers and officials for the six months prior to his appointment as ambassador, and throughout his 7-month tenure as envoy, a requirement that is likely to produce thousands of documents.
“Work is ongoing across departments to search for and identify the material relevant” to the request, told the House of Commons on Monday. “Given the breadth of the motion as drafted, this is clearly a process which will take some time.”
Jones said that due to the police probe, the government is unable to publish some correspondence between Starmer’s office and Mandelson in the first disclosure.
“The criminal investigation being led by the Metropolitan Police, I’m afraid, takes primacy,” Jones said. Some additional material engages matters of national security and international relations, which will also be reviewed further before being published, he said.
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed they arrested a 72-year-old man in Camden on Monday who was then taken to a London police station for interview. “This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas,” a police spokesperson said. In line with standard practice, they didn’t name Mandelson, 72, though a UK official confirmed his arrest.
The latest Epstein files — totaling about 3 million pages posted on the Justice Department — appeared to show Mandelson forwarding internal Downing Street emails about tax policy proposals to Epstein while serving as a member of then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s cabinet in 2009. He appended the comment: “Interesting note that’s gone to the PM.”
The private memo was drafted by a senior adviser in Brown’s office on June 13 that year — the same day Mandelson shared it. The note proposed tax incentives to encourage private-sector investment after the financial crisis, as well as the possibility of making £20 billion ($27.4 billion) of asset sales to reduce government debt.
In another email, Mandelson appeared to tip Epstein off that Brown planned to resign as Labor leader and prime minister hours before he actually did so. “Finally got him to go today…” he wrote on May 10, 2010.
(Updates with detail about release of vetting papers starting in ninth paragraph.)
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