LONDON (Chatnewstv.com) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday dismissed the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, after the release of emails revealing his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“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 Foreign Office said in a statement.
The decision, announced in the House of Commons by Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty, followed publication this week of correspondence between Mandelson and Epstein.
“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,” the Foreign Office added.
The Sun newspaper reported Wednesday that Mandelson urged Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before Epstein began serving an 18-month prison sentence in June 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“I think the world of you,” Mandelson wrote, according to the paper.
The emails surfaced a day after Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee released a 50th birthday album compiled for Epstein in 2003. In the album, Mandelson described Epstein as “my best pal” in a handwritten note.
