Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson has resigned his membership of the party after the latest batch of Epstein files revealed more of his links to the billionaire sex offender.
Documents released by the US Department of Justice at the weekend show thousands of pounds were paid to Mandelson and his husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva by Epstein.
Those payments continued after the disgraced financier had been released from prison.
Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US – seen as one of the top jobs in British diplomacy – last year over his friendship with Epstein.
In a letter to Labour Party general secretary Hollie Ridley on Sunday night, he said he feels ‘regretful and sorry’ about the stories that emerged in the past two days.
Michelle Mone's husband gifted Tories 'over £171k' as Covid PPE row rumbles on
He continued: ‘Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.
‘While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.’
Mandelson has been a major figure in Labour politics for four decades, and had two spells as Business Secretary under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
But he has often attracted controversy over his long career, resigning twice from his Cabinet positions over accusations of dodgy dealings.
An image in the latest batch of Epstein files shows Mandelson wearing Y-fronts (Picture: Department of Justice)
Emails in the latest release include one in which he tells Epstein he was trying to get then-Chancellor Alistair Darling to ‘amend’ a tax on bankers’ bonuses – while he was business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister.
He also suggests JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon should ‘mildly threaten’ Darling.
Meanwhile, newly released images from Epstein’s archive include one showing Mandelson in just his underwear and a T-shirt speaking to an unidentified woman.
The ex-Cabinet minister has consistently denied any wrongdoing and knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, saying he suspects he was shielded from them as he is gay.
All you need to know about anti-strikes laws and what they will mean for workers
Who is Reinaldo Avila da Silva?
The Epstein files released over the weekend place a new spotlight on Reinaldo Avila da Silva, Peter Mandelson’s husband.
They show he was the recipient of thousands of pounds in cash from Epstein in two transactions in 2009 and 2010.
An email from 2009 shows da Silva asking for £10,000 to pay for an osteopathy course and related expenses, with the financier responding later that day: ‘I will wire your loan amount immediated’y.’
Da Silva wrote back several days later, saying ‘thank you for the money which arrived in my account this morning’.
Mandelson was the business secretary at the time.
He has been in a relationship with da Silva since the 1990s and the couple married in October 2023.
Lord Mandelson pictured with Jeffrey Epstein at a birthday celebration (Picture: US Department of Justice/PA Wire)
Mandelson became a member of the House of Lords in 2008, and now the government faces calls to strip him of that position too.
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the move would be ‘the very least they can do for the victims and survivors of his friend Jeffrey Epstein’.
He said: ‘If Mandelson has any shame left he will retire from the House of Lords today while this process gets underway.’
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn reacted to the resignation news yesterday with a post on X saying: ‘Starmer was too weak to remove him. Now he must be booted out the Lords.’
Today, Flynn wrote to the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus calling for an urgent inquiry into Mandelson’s conduct and ‘how and why he was ever appointed to high office by these Labour prime ministers’.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
