"For much of the past six months, Peter Mandelson, the veteran British politician, has been holed up in a rented country house in a picturesque valley in Wiltshire, about a hundred miles west of London. He retreated there after the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, fired him, last September, from his post as the U.K.'s Ambassador to the United States, following the release of e-mails by the Department of Justice that showed Mandelson had retained close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and pledged his support to him, despite the late financier's 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor."
"Not for the first time in his career, Mandelson was disgraced. And things got a lot worse for him at the end of last month, when the D.O.J. released more e-mails revealing that he wasn't merely friendly with Epstein: in 2009-10, during Mandelson's time as a government minister, he passed sensitive government information to Epstein. Referring to the e-mails, Mandelson told a journalist from the Times of London who visited him in Wiltshire that none of them "indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part." But he's now the subject of a police inquiry into whether his leaks amounted to "misconduct in public office"-a criminal offense. And earlier this month, Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in the House of Commons, called on the Financial Conduct Authority, Britain's main financial regulator, to launch an insider-dealing investigation into whether Mandelson "or those he leaked information to profited from access to this market sensitive and confidential material.""
Peter Mandelson retreated to a rented country house in Wiltshire after being fired as the U.K.'s Ambassador to the United States. Department of Justice e-mails showed retained close ties between Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein and pledged support despite Epstein's 2008 conviction. Later DOJ e-mails revealed that Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein in 2009-10 while serving as a government minister. Mandelson denied that the e-mails indicated wrongdoing. Police opened an inquiry into whether the leaks constituted misconduct in public office, and political figures called for an insider-dealing investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority. No evidence yet shows anyone profited, and no suggestion links Mandelson to Epstein's alleged sex trafficking.
Read at The New Yorker
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