Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States, has been released on bail after he was arrested in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein.
A London Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a statement issued just after 2 am Tuesday: “A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation.
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 was filmed being led from his London home to a car by plainclothes officers on Monday afternoon.
“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” London’s Metropolitan police said in its earlier statement. Police had previously searched several properties linked to the former ambassador, Labour cabinet minister and European Commissioner, and broadcast footage appeared to show him being driven away.
His arrest came only days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor spent time in custody over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Both are suspected of improperly passing sensitive government information to Epstein while in public office.
Earlier this month, police opened an investigation into Mandelson after the US Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents. In the latest batch, fresh details emerged about Mandelson’s relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender who died in prison in an apparent suicide in 2019.
Investigation into leaking ‘sensitive government information’
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in December 2024 despite knowing he had maintained contact with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offences involving a minor.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 when earlier revelations about the friendship emerged.
The files released in January contained more explosive revelations about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein, whom he once called “my best pal.”
Earlier this month, Starmer apologised to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson and accused the ex-envoy of lying about the extent of his ties to the financier during the vetting process for his Washington posting. “I am sorry. Sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointing him.”
Messages suggest that Mandelson passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to Epstein in 2009, when Mandelson was a senior minister in the British government.
That includes an internal government report discussing ways the UK could raise money after the 2008 global financial crisis, including by selling off government assets. Mandelson also appears to have told Epstein he would lobby other members of the government to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses.
Video editor • Malek Fouda
Additional sources • AP, AFP
