Harriet Harman Calls for Mandelson to Quit Over Epstein Links

Labour grandee Harriet Harman has urged Lord Mandelson to resign immediately over his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein or for Sir Keir Starmer to sack him if he refuses.

It was revealed this week that Mandelson, now serving as the UK’s ambassador to the US, once described Epstein as his “best pal” in a 2003 birthday note. Reports in Bloomberg and The Sun also claim Mandelson sent Epstein supportive messages while he was under investigation for sex offences, telling him: “I’m following you closely and here whenever you need.”

Further allegations suggest Epstein helped broker a deal over the £1bn sale of a taxpayer-owned UK banking business in 2010, when Mandelson was business secretary just months after Epstein was released from prison.

Speaking on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said Mandelson’s position was untenable. “It would be the decent and honourable thing to do,” she said of his resignation. “It looks clear he’s not going to do that, so the decision lands on Sir Keir’s desk. Is he going to keep him on even in the face of what we all now know? Or is he going to say you can’t represent Britain and therefore you’re going to have to be fired?”

Harman acknowledged the dilemma facing the prime minister given his past as director of public prosecutions. “He’s been involved in cases of people who sex trafficked young girls,” she said. “The side he’s been on is justice for women and girls against predatory sex offenders. That’s where he stood. So he will be anguished about this.”

Mandelson, speaking to The Sun, said he “very much regrets” his past dealings with Epstein. “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… I feel a tremendous sense of regret.”

Mandelson has been contacted for further comment.