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British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, a former U.K. ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said “officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office” at an address in north London. He has been taken to a police station for questioning.
It did not name Mandelson, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case has previously been identified as the former diplomat, who is 72.
Police are investigating Mandelson over claims he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, was arrested in a separate case on suspicion of a similar offence related to his friendship with Epstein. Andrew was released after 11 hours in custody while the police investigation continues.
WATCH | The Epstein files: What’s in there and what happens next:
The Epstein files: What’s in there and what happens next
The U.S. Department of Justice has released millions of pages of documents detailing the lifestyle and famous friends of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For The National, CBC’s Eli Glasner breaks down what the files have revealed so far, and what could happen next.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offences involving a minor. When more details emerged in documents released by the U.S. Justice Department last month, police opened a criminal probe.
The Epstein files suggest that Mandelson passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to Epstein in 2009, when Mandelson was then a member of the government.
Officers subsequently searched Mandelson’s two houses in London and western England.
The decision to appoint Mandelson nearly cost British Prime Minister Keir Starmer his job, as questions swirled around his judgment in someone who has flirted with controversy during a decades-long political career.
Though he has acknowledged he made a mistake and apologized to victims of Epstein, Starmer’s position remains precarious. His future may rest on the release of files connected to Mandelson’s appointment.
