UK police arrest former US ambassador Peter Mandelson in Epstein probe – National
British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, the UK’s former ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct investigation stemming from his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It came days after Epstein’s friendship landed the former Prince Andrew in police custody.
The arrests came as revelations continued from more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the US Department of Justice.
London’s Metropolitan Police said “officers arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of disorderly conduct in a public office” at an address in north London. He was taken to the police station for questioning.
The suspect’s name has not been disclosed, in accordance with the work of the British police, but the suspect in this case has been identified as a former diplomat, aged 72.
Under UK law, the police can hold a suspect without charge for 24 hours. This can be extended up to 96 hours. Mandelson could be charged, released without conditions or released pending an investigation.
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Police are investigating Mandelson over allegations he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He is facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest came four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, was arrested in a separate case on suspicion of a similar crime related to his friendship with Epstein. Andrew was released after 11 hours in custody, while the police investigation continues.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published that showed he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex crimes involving a minor.
Mandelson served in senior government posts under previous Labor governments and was the UK’s ambassador to Washington until Prime Minister Keir Starmer sacked him in September over his relationship with Epstein.
The Epstein files suggest that Mandelson passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to Epstein in 2009, when Mandelson was a member of then-Gov. That includes an internal government report discussing ways the UK could raise money after the 2008 global financial crisis, including selling government assets. Mandelson appears to have told Epstein that he will lobby other members of the government to lower the tax on bankers’ bonuses.
British police launched a criminal investigation earlier this month and searched two of Mandelson’s homes in London and the west of England.
The decision to nominate Mandelson almost cost Starmer his job as questions surround his judgment in a man who has flirted with controversy over decades of politics.
Although he has admitted he made a mistake and apologized to Epstein’s victims, Starmer’s position remains problematic. His future may depend on the release of files connected to Mandelson’s nomination. The government has promised to start issuing those letters in early March, although the timing may be complicated by his arrest.
Mandelson has been a major, if controversial, figure in the Labor Party for decades. He is a master – critics say ruthless – political operative whose power of political manipulation has earned him the nickname “Prince of Darkness.”
The grandson of former Labor Cabinet minister Herbert Morrison, he was the architect of the party that returned to power in 1997 as a centrist, modernizing “New Labour” under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mandelson served in senior government positions under Blair between 1997 and 2001, and under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2008 to 2010. In between, he was the European Union’s trade commissioner. Brown is deeply upset by the revelations and has been helping the police with their enquiries.
Mandelson had to resign from government twice during the Blair administration over allegations of financial or moral impropriety, admitting wrongdoing but denying wrongdoing.
He later returned to government and returned to the political line when Starmer named him ambassador to Washington at the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Mandelson’s commercial expertise and the luxury surrounding the very wealthy were considered great assets. He helped secure a trade deal in May that spared Britain some of the tariffs imposed by Trump on countries around the world.
The status of the deal is now up in the air after Trump announced a new set of global tariffs following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn his previous order on import tariffs.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
