Peter Mandelson has said he has resigned his membership of the Labour party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after more revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
According to The Guardian, the peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, featured in documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday related to the convicted sex offender.
Mandelson said he had written on Sunday evening to Hollie Ridley, general secretary of the Labour party to say he was resigning his party membership.
His letter said, “I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this. Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.”
“While doing this, I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party. I want to take this opportunity to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now,” he added.
Earlier, a government minister had said Mandelson should testify before the US Congress about his links to Jeffrey Epstein as documents appeared to show the late child sex offender sent the then Labour MP $75,000.
Emails and other documents released by the US justice department on Friday shed new light on the closeness of the relationship between Epstein and Lord Mandelson.
Bank statements appear to show three separate payments of $25,000 referencing the former UK business secretary being sent from Epstein’s JP Morgan bank accounts.
