Former UK minister Mandelson quits Labour party

Former British government minister Peter Mandelson has resigned as a member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party after new reports of his ties with disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.



Mandelson, who was fired by Starmer as Britain's ambassador to the United States last year after previous revelations about his connections to Epstein, said he did not wish to cause "further embarrassment" to Labour.



"I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this," Mandelson said in a letter to the Labour Party reported by the BBC and other news organisations.



Mandelson ⁠said he believed allegations about financial payments to him by Epstein, which appeared in British media based on files released by the U.S. Justice Department, were false and he would investigate them.



Mandelson was key to the ⁠Labour Party's electoral success when Tony Blair was prime minister starting in the 1990s.



He came under scrutiny last year after U.S. lawmakers released documents including a letter in which he called Epstein "my best pal", leading to his dismissal as Britain's envoy in Washington.