Lord Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador today after emails showed that he had enjoined Jeffrey Epstein to ‘fight for early release’.
Keir Starmer finally acted after another devastating cache of messages emerged from the peer to the disgraced financier.
The dramatic departure throws the government deeper into chaos, just a week before Donald Trump‘s state visit.
It is less than a week since Angela Rayner was forced to resign over her tax affairs, amid claims the premier is ‘lurching from crisis to crisis’.
Sir Keir now faces mounting questions about his judgment, with Labour MPs warning the party is ‘stained at the very top’.
Bloomberg News said details of the newly-uncovered emails had been sent to Lord Mandelson for comment on Monday, raising questions about why the premier continued to voice ‘full confidence’ in him at PMQs yesterday.
Lord Mandelson has been forced to resign from government twice before, over an undeclared loan in 1998 and again in 2001 over claims he tried to influence a passport application – although a probe later found he had broken no rules.
Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs this morning that it was now clear the New Labour architect’s relationship with Epstein was ‘materially different’ than had been known when he was appointed.
‘In light of the additional information in the emails written by Peter Mandelson, the Prime Minister has asked the Foreign Secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States,’ he said.
‘The emails show that the depth and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.’
