London
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Peter Mandelson was fired as the U.S. ambassador for the UK on Thursday after his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became another unwelcome issue for Prime Minister Kiel Starmer, who fought.
Mandelson was putting pressure on his relationship with Epstein after U.S. lawmakers released a “Birthday Book,” edited by Epstein in 2003 in 2003.
Despite the revelation, Starmer forced his ambassador on Wednesday, informing Congress that Mandelson has “full confidence” of him.
Hours later, the scandal snowballed after Bloomberg released a ton of emails between Mandelson and Epstein, and Mandelson expressed his support for his friends and offered to discuss the infamous Florida incident and political contact of 2008.
Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges and served 13 months in prison after a controversial plea deal. However, an email obtained by Bloomberg showed that Mandelson continued to support Epstein after his conviction.
“I think you and I are hopeless and furious about what happened,” Mandelson wrote. He advised Epstein and suggested fighting back using techniques from San Zi’s “The Art of War.”
Announced Mandelson’s withdrawal, the UK’s Foreign Ministry told CNN in a statement that the email showed the “depth and scope” of his current ambassador relationship with Epstein was “substantially different from what was known at the time of his appointment.”
In a letter to embassy staff after his firing, Mandelson described his role as an “privileges of my life” as an ambassador, the BBC reported.
“The circumstances surrounding today’s announcement are situations that I deeply regret. I have been feeling absolutely terrible and bad about my relationship with Epstein and the light form of his victims 20 years ago,” he said in a letter, according to the BBC.
He said accepting the star’s decision “has no choice.”
James Roscoe will become the interim ambassador for the United States, formerly deputy director of the mission at the Washington embassy in July 2022.
The scandal surrounding Mandelson created another enormous political headache for the troubled star who faced questions about his judgment when appointing Mandelson when the ambassador’s friendship with Epstein was well known.
Mandelson – currently being kicked out of three senior government roles over separate scandals – has questioned over the years about his links with Epstein. Asked about his relationship with a sex offender last year, Mandelson said he regretted seeing him but rejected the question as a journalistic “obsession.”
But the allegations became difficult to dismiss after Congressional Democrats released a copy of Epstein’s so-called 50th “birthday book.”
Among the 238 pages of the book is a handwritten note littered with photos of Mandelson and Epstein.
Mandelson spent “hours” waiting for this man to appear, meeting his “funny” friends and explaining how this man could whisk him into “one of his shining houses” next to the island’s photo.
“No matter where he is in the world, he remains my best companion,” Mandelson writes.
In an interview Wednesday, the British tabloid, Mandelson found the word “very embarrassing” to read, saying he was afraid that more “very embarrassing” exchanges would soon emerge. He emphasized that Epstein wrote his message before being convicted in 2008.
“I very regretted I fell for his lies. I have accepted the assurance that he gave me about his charges, his former criminal case in Florida,” Mandelson added.
The Foreign Office said: “Mandelson’s proposal that Jeffrey Epstein’s initial belief is illegal and should be challenged is new information.”
“In light of that, and with the victims of Epstein’s crimes in mind, he quickly made an effect and retreated as ambassador,” it said.
Mandelson is widely known in politics as the “dark prince” of Machiavelli skills and became the Director of Communications for the Labour Party in the 1980s. He helped transform the party into a smooth, global capital-friendly project known as the “New Labour,” which ultimately won the landslide election under Tony Blair in 1997.
“We’re not communists, we’re new labor,” he famously told the following year that he was a gathering of corporate Americans. “We’re very relaxed about getting people rich as long as we pay taxes.”
However, critics say that Mandelson himself has long been relaxed about his own relationship with the dirty rich man. He resigned as government minister in 1998 for not declaring loans he obtained from his billionaire colleagues. He returned to government the following year, but resigned again in 2001 over allegations that using his position would affect British passport applications from wealthy donors.
Mandelson then left Westminster for Brussels and became a European Trade Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. He returned to the government for the third time under Prime Minister Gordon Brown and took him to the private sector after workers were defeated in the 2010 general election.
He first left Karen Pierce as the U.S. ambassador for the UK when the star snakes won the landslide election last July. However, after Donald Trump won his second term as US president in November, priorities traded what was considered a steady set of hands for political heavyweights.
Initially, his appointment was rewarded. Mandelson, whose knowledge of trade issues was a factor in his appointment, played an important role in negotiating the US-UK trade agreement.
The president stood with Trump in his oval office on the day the contract was signed in May, praised Mandelson’s “beautiful” accent. “I want to have that accent too,” Trump said.
“Thank you,” Mandelson replied. “My mother would be proud.”
However, despite the first Bonhommy, the decision to appoint Mandelson backfired spectacularly. The prime minister lost two senior officials in a week after his lieutenant, Angela Rayner, resigned on Friday after failing to pay sufficient property taxes.
Mandelson’s withdrawal comes just days before the star plans to welcome Trump to the UK for a state visit, including a banquet at Charles III and Windsor Castle.
Given that Trump is caught up in a scandal of his own over his link to a convicted sex offender, Mandelson’s star’s firing for links to Epstein may make the visit even more uncomfortable.
