Lord Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party after files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggested he had received $75,000 from the paedophile financier and also lobbied against a tax on British bankers’ bonuses.
Mandelson, the former business secretary who was made a peer in 2008, said he did not wish to cause the party “further embarrassment” over his links to Epstein.
MPs and ministers had told The Times that Mandelson, who was Sir Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US until last year, should have his party membership revoked.
He said: “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.”
He has been on a leave of absence from the Lords since taking up the US ambassador role last February. He is not planning to return to the chamber, meaning he has effectively retired from politics.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police are facing calls to reopen the case into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as the former prince faced claims from another alleged ÂEpstein victim.
A second woman says she was sent to the UK by the paedophile to have sex with Andrew, according to her lawyer. The woman, believed to have been in her twenties, claimed that she had sex with him at Royal Lodge in Windsor in 2010.
The lawyer, Brad Edwards, from the US firm Edwards Henderson, told the BBC that after spending the night with Andrew, she says she was given tea and a tour of Buckingham Palace. Edwards said: “We’re talking about at least one woman who was sent by ÂJeffrey Epstein over to Prince Andrew.”
Andrew, who has always denied wrongdoing, previously settled a civil claim out of court that had been brought against him by the Epstein Âvictim Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor outside Royal Lodge this weekend
KELVIN BRUCE
It also emerged that Sarah Ferguson sent ÂEpstein an email in March 2010 that appeared to make inappropriate remarks about her daughter, Princess Eugenie. Epstein emailed Ferguson appearing to ask about a trip to New York, writing: “ny [sic]?”. Ferguson replied: “Not sure yet. Just waiting for Eugenie to come back from a shagging weekend!!”
Ferguson and Eugenie were approached for comment.
Other emails appeared to show Andrew brokered a meeting for ÂEpstein in Libya.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has Ârepresented 27 Epstein victims, said: “The Metropolitan Police should reopen their investigation … In addition, Andrew should volunteer to speak to Congress, even though he has denied that he has committed any crime.”
• The Times view: The PM is right. Andrew must face the music
The latest update from the Met on the matter came in December when it said: “A decision was made in ÂNovember 2016 not to proceed to a full criminal investigation. That decision was reviewed in August 2019 and again in 2021 and 2022; in each instance, the position remained unchanged.”
A Âpicture of Andrew emerged apparently showing him on all fours atop a woman who has not been named. Elsewhere in the files, he was linked to a Russian woman called Irina, or “Little Irina”, who was said to be aged 26.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/REUTERS
Within days of Epstein’s release from house arrest for soliciting prostitution, he emailed Andrew to say that Irina could meet him in London, adding: “she 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email.”
It will put more pressure on the Met, whose officers appear in the documents. Correspondence suggests that on ÂNovember 26, 2009, Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s private secretary at the time, wrote to Epstein’s assistant seeking Âaccommodation for two of Andrew’s bodyguards Âon a visit to the US. It is unclear if the officers, employed by the Met to protect Andrew, took up the offer.
A Met spokesman said the force did not comment on officers’ whereabouts.
Thirsk, who left her taxpayer-funded role when Andrew ceased to be a working member of the royal family in 2019, declined to comment.
Epstein also appeared to admit that Andrew pulled strings for his private plane to land at RAF Marham, near ÂSandringham, another email chain Âsuggests. In 2011 The Telegraph had Âobtained flight logs showing Epstein’s Gulfstream jet flew from Paris to Luton on December 6, 2000, and the next day landed at RAF Marham.
At the time the reporter asked Epstein’s relations manager: “Did anyone — namely Prince ÂAndrew — help him get permission [to land there]?” This email was forwarded to an account appearing to belong to ÂGhislaine Maxwell, who replied: “I think that’s crap and not true and you should say So.” Three hours later, Epstein responded “just spoke to larry,,, its true [sic]”, to which Maxwell replied, “Shit”.
Andrew also appeared to broker a meeting between Epstein and a business contact in Libya. In emails sent in October 2010, Epstein told David Stern, a US banker according to reports, that he wanted to go to Tripoli. “Lets [sic] Âorganise with pa,” he said, in an apparent reference to Prince Andrew. Hours later, ÂEpstein received a response from a redacted individual, which said that he “spoke to PA”, adding, “Tripoli can be Âorganised, he wants more details”.
Starmer had been facing calls to kick ÂMandelson out of the Labour Party over claims he received $75,000 from Epstein. Bank statements appear to show three payments to Mandelson-linked accounts. Mandelson said he had no record or recollection of the payments.
Mandelson, when business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government, was Âalso said to have written an email to ÂEpstein in which he said the head of JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the chancellor over the proposed bankers’ bonuses tax.
Andrew was stripped of his royal Âtitles in October and was told to give Ânotice on his lease at Royal Lodge.
A Palace statement said: “Their ÂMajesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of … abuse.”
The King cannot compel Andrew, no longer a working member of the royal family, to give evidence to US Congress.