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Keir Starmer has sacked Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US over his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
The Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs that Mandelson had not disclosed the extent and depth of his friendship with Epstein, a paedophile financier, when he was appointed as the ambassador.
He said No 10 had not known about emails from Mandelson to Epstein suggesting his 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “In light of the additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the prime minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador.
“The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment. In particular, Peter Mandelson’s suggestion that Jeffrey Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged is new information.
“In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes, he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
Before Mandelson’s departure was announced, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, told an event that he was “completely disgusted” by messages Lord Peter Mandelson sent to Epstein and that his future was “a decision for the prime minister”.
Mandelson’s departure comes at a difficult time for No 10 as it prepares a state visit for the US president, Donald Trump, who is facing his own questions about his friendship with Epstein.
The episode will raise questions about Starmer’s judgment in having appointed Mandelson, given it was known that the ambassador had continued his association with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction.
Starmer had on Wednesday at prime minister’s questions stood behind Mandelson, insisting the ambassador had been fully vetted.
However, Mandelson faced overwhelming pressure to go after it emerged that he told Epstein to fight for early release from jail as the disgraced financier faced an 18-month sentence for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute in 2008.
The emails were published by the Sun after circulating in Washington DC, hours after Mandelson admitted on Tuesday that more “very embarrassing” details of his friendship with Epstein were likely to emerge. He insisted he had never witnessed any “wrongdoing”.
In an email from June 2008, which was not disputed by his spokesperson, Mandelson wrote to Epstein: “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened.
“I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.”
It continued: “Everything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.”
The friendship between the two men came under a renewed spotlight after Democratic members of the US House oversight committee released Epstein’s 50th “birthday book”, in which Mandelson called him “my best pal” in a handwritten note.
