Ex-UK ambassador Mandelson released on bail after arrest in Epstein probe

Police in the United Kingdom say Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to the United States, has been released on bail after he was arrested in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a statement early Tuesday.

The man was not named, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case previously was identified as the former diplomat, who is 72.

Mandelson, a major figure in the United Kingdom’s Labour Party for decades. was filmed being led from his London home to a car by plainclothes officers on Monday afternoon.

Photos of the arrest published by the UK’s The Times newspaper appeared to show Mandelson wearing khakis, a grey sweater, and a dark jacket while being led into a vehicle by a plainclothes officer.

“This is absolutely seismic political news,” reported Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull from London, noting Mandelson “is an enormous figure here”.

There was no immediate response from Mandelson’s lawyers.

Mandelson, who still holds the British title of “Lord”, has been engulfed in scandal since a trove of emails released by the US Department of Justice last month shed new light on his connection with the late Epstein.

The emails revealed that the two shared a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and that Mandelson shared information with Epstein when he was a minister in former Prime ⁠Minister Gordon Brown’s government.

Earlier this month, Mandelson – who was fired as ambassador to the US last year over earlier revelations about his relationship with Epstein – resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and quit his ⁠position in Parliament’s upper chamber.

He previously ⁠said he “very deeply” regretted his past association with convicted sex trafficker Epstein.

Mandelson’s arrest came less than a week after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of Britain’s King Charles III, was also arrested for questioning as part of a similar probe stemming from his ties to Epstein.

The UK government is now weighing legislation to strip the former prince from the royal line of succession, causing his ties to the royal family to be “all but decimated”, said Hull. Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing.

The UK’s Epstein fallout is also putting further pressure on Starmer, who has faced some calls to step down.

“What this will do is add yet more political scandal, political drama and political weight to the position that Starmer finds himself in,” said Hull. “It appears as if the fallout from the Epstein scandal is being more keenly felt here than on the other side of the Atlantic – where, of course, Epstein lived and came from.”