British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, faced the possibility of losing his post over his decision in 2024 to appoint veteran politician Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the mastermind of the sex trafficking of underage girls to global power brokers. Starmer's ability to exercise good judgment has been called into question after the U.S. Justice Department last week released millions of documents from the late Epstein's files, which show his close ties to Mandelson, according to the Associated Press.
There is widespread anger in the UK that Starmer appointed Mandelson, a long-time Labour Party MP and former European Commissioner, now a member of the House of Lords, to the most important ambassadorial post.
Starmer dismissed the 72-year-old Mandelson in September, when the first series of emails were released showing that he remained friends with Epstein even after he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a child for prostitution and pimping.
However, emails released this Sunday show that Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein in 2009, when he was part of the government of Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Several Labour MPs have said Starmer should resign, while others are clearly unhappy, after a series of missteps since the party returned to power with a landslide victory in the July 2024 election.
Starmer, however, is trying to fight back - he said he apologized to the British public and Epstein's victims of human trafficking "for believing Mandelson's lies."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what was done to you, I'm sorry that you were let down by so many people in positions of power. I'm sorry that I believed Mandelson's lies and appointed him," Starmer said.
Starmer's government has promised to release emails and other documents related to Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US, which it claims will show that the British lord misled officials.
British police raided two properties linked to Mendelsohn yesterday as part of an investigation into potential abuse of public office, following revelations that he passed sensitive government information to Epstein, according to the AP.
In 2009, Mandelson sent Epstein an internal government report considering ways the UK could raise money after the 2008 global financial crisis, including selling state assets.
Mandelson has not been arrested or charged so far, and the maximum penalty for abuse of public office is life imprisonment.
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