London police on Monday arrested former ambassador Peter Mandelson over claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview,” the Met added.
The man was not named, in keeping with British police practice.
BBC News and Sky News broadcasted footage of Mandelson leaving his central London home accompanied by plainclothes officers wearing body cameras, before being driven away in a car.
The arrest of Mandelson, a former Labour peer, came only four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles III's younger brother, was detained and released under investigation in a separate misconduct in public office probe also related to the latest Epstein documents.
Mountbatten-Windsor - formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York - has been investigated for allegedly sharing confidential documents while serving as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011.
Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the US Department of Justice in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government in 2009.
Mandelson, who this month resigned from Starmer's Labour Party and quit his position in parliament's upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.
Mandelson's homes in London and west England were searched by police earlier this month.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has faced calls to step down over Mandelson's appointment, faces further scrutiny after parliament ordered the release of documents relating to his vetting. A minister said on Monday that the first documents should be published in early March.
The prime minister has apologized to Epstein’s victims for choosing Mandelson. Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit earlier this month, saying he took responsibility for advising Starmer to name Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite his known links to Epstein.
