Just before 10:30 last night, news broke that Lord Mandelson had resigned from the Labour Party, saying he didn’t want to “cause further embarrassment” over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson’s name appears among the millions of documents released on Friday relating to Epstein – the largest number shared by the US government since a law mandated their release last year.
Some documents suggest Epstein made payments to him between 2003 and 2004 that totalled $75,000 (now, £55,000). Mandelson says he has no record or recollection of receiving the sums and does not know whether the documents were authentic.
But in his letter to Labour’s general secretary, Mandelson writes: “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.”
It’s not the first time the former minister has been brought down by his friendship with Epstein – back in September, he was sacked by Keir Starmer as the UK’s ambassador to the US after revelations about their relationship.
‘I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party’
Lord Mandelson has released his resignation letter, sent to the general secretary of the Labour Party, Hollie Ridley. It says:
“I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.
“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.
“I want to take this opportunity to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.
“I have dedicated my life to the values and success of the Labour Party and in taking my decision, I believe I am acting in its best interests.”
Documents suggest three payments from Epstein to Mandelson
The documents released on Friday suggest Epstein made multiple payments to Lord Mandelson and his partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.
Bank statements show three separate payments of $25,000 referencing Lord Mandelson being sent from Epstein’s JP Morgan accounts.
The transactions were made in 2003 and 2004, when Mandelson was the Labour MP for Hartlepool.
The first statement shows a payment was sent to a Barclays account where Reinaldo Avila da Silva is named as “A/C”, typically an abbreviation for account.
In that payment, a “Peter Mandelson” is named on the account as “BEN”, which is often an abbreviation for beneficiary.
The second and third payments of $25,000 were made to HSBC accounts only days apart in June 2004. In both, “Peter Mandelson” is the only person named, again as “BEN”.
Mandelson says he has no record or recollection of receiving the sums and did not know whether the documents were authentic. He says they need “investigating by me”.
Epstein also sent £10,000 to Mandelson’s partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009, according to the documents.
In an email to Epstein, da Silva sets out the costs of an osteopathy course, provides his bank details and thanks the financier for “anything you can help me with”.
Epstein replies a few hours later saying: “I will wire your loan amount immediately” and the following day Silva writes: “Just a brief note to thank you for the money which arrived in my account this morning.”
There is no suggestion Da Silva was involved in any wrongdoing.
What else was in the latest Epstein release?
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Friday’s file release includes a photo that appears to show the former prince kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the ground.
There are more emails between Epstein and a person named “The Duke”, including one in which Epstein offers an introduction a 26-year-old Russian woman. The emails are from August 2010, two years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.
The BBC has contacted Mountbatten-Windsor for a response. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Sarah Ferguson
Andrew’s ex-wife and daughters are repeatedly mentioned in the files. In one email exchange, Ferguson asks Epstein for £20,000 to pay her rent. In another, she describes him as the “brother I have always wished for”.
President Trump
Among the new documents is a list compiled by the FBI of allegations made against Trump by callers to its national Threat Operation Center tip line. Many appear to be unverified and without supporting evidence. Trump has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes.
When asked about the latest allegations, both the White House and justice department pointed to a line in a news release accompanying the new batch of files. “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election,” the US Justice Department says.
Elon Musk
Emails show Musk discussed travelling to Epstein’s island on more than one occasion – including a proposed 2012 trip – in which he asked Epstein: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”
Musk previously said Epstein had invited him to his island but that he declined, and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Richard Branson
A 2013 email from the founder of Virgin Group appears to tell Epstein that it was “really nice” seeing him, adding: “Any time you’re in the area would love to see you. As long as you bring your harem!”
Virgin Group clarified that “harem” referred to three adult members of Epstein’s team, and any contact with Epstein was for group or business or charity events.
Starmer seems to call on Andrew to testify in US
As we’ve just reported, Lord Mandelson was not the only high-profile name mentioned in the latest Epstein files.
And – after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with Epstein was again highlighted – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer seemed to suggest the former prince should answers questions at the US Congress.
Speaking to reporters on his way back from Japan, the PM said: “In terms of testifying I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that.”
“You can’t be victim-centred if you’re not prepared to do that,” he added. “Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority.”
As a reminder, back in November the former prince was asked by Democrats in Congress to answer questions as part of its investigation into Epstein.
At the time, Starmer said the invitation was a matter for Andrew to consider “personally”.
Anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that”
Keir Starmer
“It’s not too late for Andrew to testify, lawyer of Epstein’s victims says”
A lawyer representing more than two dozen women who say there were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and his network, Gloria Allred, says it’s “not too late” for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to share what he knows about Epstein’s crimes.
Allred says the former prince has information that could help “unravel” how Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were able traffic girls and women “in a worldwide plan and scheme which was extremely well-funded”.
“It’s not too late, he does have information that he can share that may help them [US law enforcement],” she tells Radio 4’s Today programme.
It shouldn’t be Andrew who decides whether “he knows anything” that could help the investigation into Epstein, Allred says.
Members of the US Congress Oversight Committee have called for Mountbatten-Windsor to testify. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday that anyone who has information should be prepared to share it.
Mandelson tried to change government policy after Epstein’s request
Let’s return now to Lord Mandelson – who resigned last night from the Labour Party, two days after the latest Epstein files dropped.
Some of the emails released on Friday show Mandelson tried to change government policy on a planned tax on bankers’ bonuses, following requests from Epstein.
“Trying hard to amend,” Lord Mandelson wrote to Epstein in December 2009. “Treasury digging in but I am on [the] case.”
The policy, introduced after the financial crisis, meant that bonuses over £25,000 would be liable for an extra 50% tax rate. At the time, Lord Mandelson was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
“[A]ny real chance of making the tax only on the cash portion of the bankers bonus,” Epstein wrote in an email on 15 December.
Mandelson has told the BBC that every UK and international bank was making the same argument about the impact on UK financial services.
“My conversations in government at the time reflected the views of the sector as a whole not a single individual,” he said.
Badenoch questions Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch says Prime Minister Keir Starmer “must act” over new information about Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, calling it an “international scandal”.
As a reminder, Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last year because of his past connections to Epstein. Last night, he resigned from the Labour Party after new documents emerged.
Badenoch urges the government to “set out how exactly he [Mandelson] came to be appointed in the first place” and launch an investigation into money allegedly sent from Epstein to Mandelson and his partner, now husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.
Speaking before Mandelson announced his resignation from the Labour Party, Badenoch said: “If Keir Starmer had a backbone he would suspend Mandelson’s membership of the Labour Party.”
Mandelson was New Labour’s third musketeer – this end would have felt unimaginable
This is an ignominious end to Lord Mandelson’s relationship with the Labour Party, one which has lasted his entire life.
Mandelson was the third musketeer of New Labour alongside Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, serving under both as a senior cabinet minister, but his Labour heritage was deeper than theirs.
Before becoming an MP he had been Labour’s director of communications under Neil Kinnock, while as a child he was a close neighbour and family friend of Harold Wilson, the Labour prime minister of the 1960s and 70s.
Mandelson’s grandfather, Herbert Morrison, was a minister under Ramsay MacDonald, the first ever Labour prime minister, and then under Clement Attlee became foreign secretary – the role to which Mandelson at one time aspired.
He came close when he became Sir Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US almost exactly a year ago. It would have felt unimaginable then for it all to end like this.
‘Normal people would remember $75,000 placed into their account’
The Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, says Peter Mandelson should refer himself to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards.
Speaking to Radio 5 Live this morning, she says there are questions over whether he broke the ministerial code.
The documents suggest that while he was a government minister in 2009, Mandelson lobbied against bankers’ bonus taxes on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein.
“I trust that he will take action today to make himself accountable within the mechanisms available,” Maskell says.
She adds it is “deeply concerning” to know that “somebody in such a powerful position” was trying to “lobby for favours for friends.”
She also questions how Mandelson claims he could not remember any money going into his bank account from Jeffrey Epstein.
“Normal people, if they had £75,000 [the allegation is $75,000] placed in their bank accounts, would certainly remember that,” Maskell says.
In his resignation letter, Mandelson says: “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.”
Could Mandelson be removed from House of Lords?
It is very unlikely that Lord Mandelson’s peerage, his title, will be revoked.
To do so, the government would have to propose and pass a piece of legislation specifically to remove his peerage.
Mandelson is currently on a leave of absence from the Lords, which he took when he became ambassador to the US a year ago. That means he cannot take part in proceedings by speaking or voting.
Members of the Lords on a leave of absence have to give three months’ notice that they intend to return.
When the next parliamentary session begins in May, Mandelson will have to decide whether to apply for another leave of absence or come to Parliament to swear an oath to the King.
If he does neither then he would automatically retire from the House of Lords at the end of that session, about a year later.
He could also choose to retire from the Lords at any time.
Retirement would mean he had no option to come back to the Lords in the future — but he would still retain his title as a lord.
