Peter Mandelson said he resigned his membership to avoid “further embarrassment” after revealing more about his friendship with the Labor Party. Jeffrey Epstein.
A fellow, a He was removed from the post of US ambassador last year Because of his links to Epstein, the convicted sex offender was featured in documents released Friday by the US Department of Justice.
Mandelson said he wrote to Holly Ridley, the general secretary, on Sunday evening labor party to say that he is resigning from his party membership.
His letter said: “This weekend I became more involved in the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, and I am saddened and sorry about this.
“I need to investigate allegations that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, of which I believe I have no record or recollection.
“In doing so, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labor Party and I am resigning from membership of the party.
“I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate my apologies to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long ago.
“I have dedicated my life to the values and success of the Labor Party and in making my decision, I believe I am acting in its best interests.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said there should now be an independent investigation into Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador.
“Lord Mandelson was competitively humiliated. Yet Keir Starmer didn’t have the spine to act, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labor Party instead of kicking him out.
“Keir Stormer and his chief of staff appointed Mandelson as ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein, and then refused to act despite a mountain of evidence against him.
“Given the Prime Minister’s appalling lack of judgment and his involvement in the Downing Street operation, a full and thorough independent investigation must now take place.”
Earlier, a government minister said Mandelson should testify before the US Congress about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as documents emerged showing the late child sex offender had sent $75,000 to the then Labor MP.
Emails and other documents released by the US Justice Department on Friday shed new light on the relationship between Epstein and Lord Mandelson.
Bank statements show three separate $25,000 payments sent to the former UK business secretary from Epstein’s JPMorgan bank accounts.
When contacted about the statements, Mandelson said: “I have no record and recollection of receiving these amounts and I do not know whether the documents are authentic.”
Mandelson reiterated that she was wrong to believe Epstein and continue her association with him: “I deeply regret what I did and apologize unequivocally to the women and girls who were hurt.”
On Sunday Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reid said Mandelson had a “moral obligation” to share what he knew about the disgraced financier.
He told Sky News that anyone with information or evidence should share it “whether it’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, whether it’s Lord Mandelson, or whoever it is”: “[T]Hay has a moral obligation to share what they know so that victims can help find justice that has been denied them for so long.
But Reid refused to draw on whether Mandelson, who has been on leave from the House of Lords since taking up his role as US ambassador and is without a Labor whip, should probably be stripped of his peerage. “Before taking such action, we must understand exactly what happened,” he said.
Pressure mounted on Keir Starmer to take steps to prevent Mandelson from returning to the Lords as a Labor peer, after emails released on Friday appeared to show him promising Epstein, then business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government, in December 2009 that he was “trying hard” to change government policy on bankers’ bonuses.
In an email exchange on December 15, 2009, Epstein asked Mandelson if the email addresses would be redacted policy could be changed: “Any [sic] A real possibility of taxing only the cash portion of bankers’ bonus. Mandelson replied: “I’m trying hard to amend what I explained to Jess last night. The vault is digging, but I’m on the case. I am
Correspondence emerged months ago in which Mandelson’s husband, da Silva, successfully asked the financier to pay him £10,000 in September 2009. To fund osteopathy course and other expenses.
A statement dated 14 May 2003 regarding an apparent $75,000 payment and First reported by the Financial Times Barclays shows a payment sent to a bank account where Mandelson’s then-partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, is named “A/C”, usually the account’s abbreviation. “Peter Mandelson” is named “BEN” on the account, which is often an abbreviation for the beneficiary.
A second and third payment of $25,000 appears to have been made to HSBC accounts within days of June 2004. In both, “Peter Mandelson” is identified as “BEN”.
It is unclear whether the three payments were ever made into the named accounts and whether the naming or depiction in the files is indicative of wrongdoing.
Sources close to Mandelson say the statements cannot be taken at face value and are flawed. They said the U.S. Justice Department had previously stated that Epstein’s files may contain false images, documents or videos.
The Prime Minister, returning from a trip to China, was asked whether a £10,000 payment to Mandelson’s partner while he was Labor business secretary was outside the standards he expected from a peer.
“Regarding Peter Mandelson, he was removed as ambassador in connection with further information that came to light in September last year,” Starmer said. “I have nothing more to say regarding Peter Mandelson.”
Images of Mandelson in her underwear were also released in the latest installment of the Epstein Files. Responding to an edited image of him standing next to a woman, Mandelson said he “can’t place the location or the woman and I can’t think what the circumstances were.”
Mandelson must now give evidence to the US Congress, said Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, a member of the women and equalities select committee. “I think anyone who has knowledge of what Epstein was doing has a moral obligation to help his victims in any way they can to the authorities,” she said. “The people also have a right to hold their politicians to a certain standard, and in this unfortunate situation they should see to it that it happens.”
A Labor spokesman said: “The Labor Party takes all complaints seriously and they are investigated in accordance with our rules and procedures.”
