Former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson was arrested Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.
Mandelson, a veteran Labour Party politician, was accused of passing market-sensitive information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary in the UK government, CNN reported.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview.”
“This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”
The revelations from the latest tranche of Epstein files led to Mandelson’s resignation from the Labour Party earlier this month, having quit the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Britain’s parliament, the same week.
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 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.
The British leader faced questions over how much he knew about Mandelson’s close relationship with the late sex offender when he appointed him as ambassador.
