London’s Metropolitan Police arrested Lord Peter Mandelson on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office as part of a criminal investigation into whether the former British ambassador to the United States passed market-sensitive government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a cabinet minister nearly two decades ago.
Lord Mandelson, 72, was released on bail early Tuesday, hours after his arrest at his home in Camden, north London. The Metropolitan Police, adhering to standard British practice of not naming arrested individuals, confirmed only that a 72-year-old man had been detained and interviewed at a London police station. Television footage broadcast by Sky News showed Lord Mandelson, wearing a grey sweater and dark jacket, being escorted from his front door by plainclothes officers before being driven away. He was not handcuffed.
Police were investigating whether he leaked market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was a government minister during the global financial crisis in 2009 and 2010.
Emails released as part of the Epstein files appear to show Lord Mandelson disclosing an internal government assessment of ways Britain could raise money after the 2008 crash, including by selling off state assets. He also appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby other government ministers to reduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses, and to have confirmed an imminent eurozone bailout package the day before it was publicly announced. Lord Mandelson has not been accused of any form of sexual misconduct.
Police had already searched two properties linked to Lord Mandelson, one in Camden and one in Wiltshire, before carrying out the arrest.
The criminal investigation was opened earlier this month after Prime Minister Starmer’s government passed to the police communications between Lord Mandelson and Epstein that formed part of the United States Department of Justice’s document release in late January.
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The offense of misconduct in public office, under English law, concerns serious wilful abuse or neglect of the powers or responsibilities of a public office. Prosecution guidance requires that the accused be a public officer, that there be a direct link between the misconduct and the abuse of their responsibilities, and that the conduct be committed without reasonable excuse or justification.
A conviction carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and must be tried at Crown Court. The offense is widely regarded by legal practitioners as notoriously difficult to prosecute, in part due to its lack of statutory definition.
Lord Mandelson’s arrest came four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, was arrested on the same suspicion in a separate but related investigation into his own ties to Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 on the day of his arrest following an early morning raid at his home on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, spent approximately ten hours in custody before being released under investigation, a distinct legal status from bail, meaning he was neither charged nor formally exonerated. The British government is now weighing legislation to strip Mountbatten-Windsor from the royal line of succession. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Lord Mandelson’s trajectory over the past six months has been one of the steepest falls from public office in modern British political history.
He was appointed by Prime Minister Starmer as Britain’s ambassador to Washington in late 2024, a posting widely regarded as the most senior in the country’s diplomatic service. The appointment was initially seen as a coup: Lord Mandelson secured an early diplomatic victory by ensuring Britain was the first country to agree a deal with the United States under President Donald Trump to lower some tariffs. But the posting unravelled rapidly. Starmer fired him in September after emails were published showing he had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offences involving a minor.
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The damage did not stop there. The January document release contained more explosive revelations, including references in which Lord Mandelson called Epstein “my best pal.”
Earlier this month, Lord Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party and quit the House of Lords, though parliamentary procedure means he retains his title for the time being. The government said on Monday it was working on legislation to remove his peerage.
The political fallout for Prime Minister Starmer has been severe. The crisis led to the resignation of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who was seen as a protégé of Lord Mandelson. Starmer has acknowledged making a mistake in the appointment and apologised to Epstein’s victims, but questions about the vetting process have persisted. Parliament has ordered the release of documents relating to the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, and a minister confirmed on Monday that the first of those documents would be published in early March, though that timeline may be complicated by the arrest.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in whose government Lord Mandelson served as business secretary, has been particularly angered by the revelations and has been assisting police with their inquiries.
Lord Mandelson’s career in Labour politics spanned four decades. He became the party’s director of communications in the 1980s and helped transform it into the centrist, capital-friendly project known as New Labour, which won a landslide election in 1997 under Prime Minister Tony Blair. Between his Blair and Brown government roles, he served as the European Union’s trade commissioner. His cabinet career under Blair ended twice in resignation — first in 1998 over an undisclosed personal loan from a ministerial colleague, and again in 2001 following allegations that he had sought to influence a passport application made by a foreign businessman.
No charges have been filed against Lord Mandelson. His lawyers had not issued a public statement as of Monday evening. He has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his association with Epstein, while maintaining his innocence on the specific allegations now under criminal investigation.
Lord Mandelson remains on police bail pending further investigation. No date has been set for any charging decision, and the Metropolitan Police said it was unable to provide additional information to avoid prejudicing the integrity of the ongoing inquiry.
