According to London’s Metropolitan Police, the former UK Ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson was arrested today on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Mandelson, a veteran Labour Party politician, has been accused of passing market-sensitive information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was Business Secretary in the UK government.
The Epstein revelations and resulting scandal led Mandelson to quit the Labour party. He also resigned from the House of Lords.
The former politician was fired from his ambassador role in September by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer following a previous release of Epstein files which showed that he had called the financier “my best pal” in a handwritten note for his 50th birthday.
The Metropolitan police have been investigating the alleged leaking by Mandelson of Downing Street emails and market-sensitive information to Epstein.
A Metropolitan Police Spokesperson said that officers have arrested a “72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.” The Spokesperson added, “He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview,“ saying that this follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.
In February, officers searched two properties linked to Mandelson, 72, in London and Wiltshire. Then the Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart said, “The searches are related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man.”
In an earlier statement, Sewart said, “This will be a complex investigation requiring a significant amount of further evidence-gathering and analysis,” adding, “It will take some time to do this work comprehensively.”
The revelations about Mandelson’s links to Epstein have put Keir Starmer under intense pressure over the decision to appoint Mandelson as US Ambassador in December 2024.
The unfolding Mandelson scandal threatened to topple Starmer’s premiership, with the bitter fallout leading to the resignations of key advisers and growing calls from senior Labour Party figures for the British Prime Minister to step down.
Mandelson’s arrest, coming days before a crucial byelection in Gorton and Denton, will be an uncomfortable reminder of what critics say is one of Keir Starmer’s worst lapses of judgment in office; his decision to appoint him to Washington.
Mandelson’s arrest also comes days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor became the first royal to be taken into police custody in modern times. Emails appeared to show the former prince sharing confidential information with the Epstein while working as a British trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested following an early morning raid at his home on the Sandringham estate, also on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The former Prince was released “under investigation” late Thursday evening, after spending 10 hours in a police station in Norfolk, England.
Mandelson Later Released
Mandelson was later released on bail, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a statement issued just after 2 a.m. on Tuesday: “A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation.”
The offense of misconduct in public office is a notoriously difficult-to-prosecute law that experts have criticized for lacking clarity.
Under English law, the offense concerns “serious wilful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service, the body that prosecutes criminal cases in England and Wales.
Prosecution guidance says the person accused must be deemed a public officer, and there has to be a direct link between the misconduct and abuse of their responsibilities. It must also be committed “without reasonable excuse or justification.”
The offense must be shown to have been willfully committed, meaning the public official must be found to have deliberately done something wrong “knowing it to be wrong or with reckless indifference.”
