It is “shameful” that Peter Mandelson didn’t resign as the UK’s ambassador to the US “in the national interest”, Baroness Harriet Harman has told Sky News.
The Foreign Office confirmed on Thursday that Lord Mandelson was stripped of the position in the wake of revelations about the strength of his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Sir Keir Starmer is understood to have made the decision to remove him on Thursday morning after new emails revealed the Labour peer had sent messages of support to Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences in 2008.
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Lord Mandelson has been replaced in the interim by James Roscoe, who will take over at next week’s state visit.
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Speaking on Beth Rigby’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said it was “shameful” that Lord Mandelson did not resign on his own.
She said: “I think it’s really shameful that Peter Mandelson didn’t actually resign.
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“I think he should never have put himself forward for that job, knowing what he, Peter Mandelson, knew about what was likely to come out.
“So I think it’s been a horrible, awful episode. And the important thing is to move on.”
In the newly discovered emails, Lord Mandelson had suggested that Epstein’s first conviction was wrongful and should be challenged, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told the Commons on Thursday.
“In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s appalling crimes, he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
Baroness Harman said: “I think that Sir Keir Starmer will be feeling better because he’ll know he’s actually done the right thing.
“And I think he’ll be comfortable in himself with this decision. But I think that even Peter Mandelson’s biggest detractors, and I’ve certainly counted myself amongst his detractors, or Keir Starmer could never have imagined that he would have an email to a man who was in prison offering him love and support when he was a person convicted of sex offences against young women.
“This has gone beyond the bounds of what Keir Starmer could have reasonably expected.”
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Lord Mandelson said in an interview with The Sun that he regrets “very much that I fell for his lies… and accepted assurances he had given me about his indictment”, which saw Epstein jailed in 2008.
The diplomat said: “He’s a charismatic, criminal liar we now see, and I regret very much indeed.
“I felt it like an albatross around my neck since his death in 2018 or 2019, whenever it was. I feel a tremendous sense of regret.”
He has been contacted for comment on the allegations.
You can listen to the full episode of Electoral Dysfunction later on Thursday.
