Peter Mandelson has been photographed for the first time since being asked to give evidence to the US Congress over his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The peer was seen leaving his north-west London home on Saturday, after two US politicians wrote to him on Friday asking that he appear in front of Congress’s Epstein investigation.
Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party and quit the House of Lords since the latest tranche of Epstein files was released in the US.
But anger in Westminster has intensified after the documents showed he leaked information to Epstein while he was a government minister during the Blair era.
Keir Starmer has even faced calls to stand down as Prime Minister, with critics questioning the Prime Minister’s judgment in appointing the peer as US ambassador, which is considered the most prestigious posting in British diplomacy.
The letter to Mandelson, signed by representatives Robert Garcia and Suhas Subramanyam, said: “While you no longer serve as British ambassador to the United States and have stepped down from the House of Lords, it is clear that you possessed extensive social and business ties to Jeffrey Epstein and hold critical information pertaining to our investigation of Epstein’s operations.
“Given the appalling allegations regarding Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with committee staff regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.”
The letter also said: “Numerous pieces of evidence have come to light demonstrating your close ties to Jeffrey Epstein over the span of multiple years.”
Among the evidence, it listed Mandelson’s “handwritten note” in a 50th birthday book for Epstein in which he described the late financier as his “best pal”.
It also pointed to the peer’s stay at the financier’s New York apartment in 2009, while Epstein was serving an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor, as well as photographs of Mandelson in his underwear in the latest US Department of Justice release.
Mandelson was given a deadline of February 27th to respond to the two US politicians’ letter “due to the urgency and gravity of this matter”.
