Peter Mandelson was released on bail late Monday night into Tuesday, February 24, after being detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The case stems from allegations that he passed confidential UK government memoranda to Jeffrey Epstein. London police opened a criminal investigation into the former cabinet minister earlier this month after receiving several complaints, including a formal referral from the government.
The arrest on Monday marked a sharp blow to the reputation of a politician long regarded as one of the architects of New Labour, alongside Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Over the course of his career, Mandelson held some of the most senior positions in British public life, serving as a cabinet minister, European trade commissioner, and the UK ambassador to the United States.
Police said they had arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was detained on February 23 in the Camden area and taken to a London police station for questioning. Authorities later уточнили that he was released on bail pending further investigative steps. As part of the inquiry, officers previously searched two properties linked to Mandelson. He denies any wrongdoing.
Television footage showed a grim-faced Mandelson as two detectives escorted him from his home in Regent’s Park and placed him into an unmarked police vehicle. Earlier this month, he stepped down from the House of Lords on the same day the investigation became public. He has retained his title, but the government is considering emergency legislation that would allow him to be stripped of his life peerage.
The latest release of the so-called Epstein files, published by the US Department of Justice in January, showed that in 2009–2010, while serving as business secretary and effectively acting as deputy prime minister, Mandelson shared government information with Epstein, who had been convicted of sexual offences. The disclosures included details of a €500 billion eurozone financial assistance package, as well as a Downing Street memorandum outlining plans to sell £20 billion in assets and introduce changes to tax policy.
The Cabinet Office submitted to police an internal assessment of part of Mandelson’s correspondence with Epstein, along with an analysis of the controls governing access to market-sensitive information contained in those emails. The Financial Times had previously reported that in 2010, while still in office, Mandelson lobbied US authorities on behalf of Epstein and JPMorgan chief executive Jes Staley, deploying their arguments on financial regulatory reform during discussions with a US official.
Other emails released by the Department of Justice show that in 2003 and 2004 Epstein transferred a total of $75,000 to Mandelson. In addition, in 2009–2010 he sent thousands of pounds to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, who at the time was Mandelson’s partner and is now his husband. Mandelson has said he does not recall receiving the $75,000, but later confirmed the transfers made to da Silva.
Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to Washington in 2024 triggered sharp criticism of Keir Starmer. The prime minister acknowledged that he was aware Mandelson had maintained a relationship with Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Starmer nevertheless said that Mandelson had “repeatedly lied” about the extent of that friendship.
Ministers, advisers, and officials are bracing for the political fallout from the publication of tens of thousands of documents related to Mandelson and his appointment as ambassador. The first tranche of the material will be released in early March, the prime minister’s first secretary, Darren Jones, said on Monday, without specifying when the full set of documents would be made public.
According to Jones, some of the documents will be temporarily withheld from publication because they form part of a police investigation, including correspondence related to the vetting process that preceded Mandelson’s appointment to the United States. If convicted of misconduct in public office, he would become the first former British government minister found guilty of this precedent-setting offence, which carries a potential sentence of up to life imprisonment.
Last week, the lobbying firm Global Counsel, which Mandelson co-founded, entered insolvency proceedings. The move followed a mass exodus of clients amid fresh revelations from the Epstein files. Mandelson established the firm after the Labour Party’s defeat in the 2010 election; its clients included TikTok, JPMorgan, and Palantir.