British Lord Resigns as Cops Probe Epstein Emails

British police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The UK government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson—a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party—may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender he once called his "best pal" a decade and a half ago, per the AP. London's Metropolitan Police force said detectives had reviewed reports of misconduct and decided they met the threshold for a full investigation.

Commander Ella Marriott said the force "has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former government minister, for misconduct in public office offenses." Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Opening an investigation does not mean Mandelson will be arrested, charged, or convicted. But his friendship with Epstein has now cost him his political career. Days after resigning from the Labour Party, Mandelson said Tuesday he was resigning from the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, to which he was appointed for life in 2008. The Speaker of the Lords, Michael Forsyth, said Mandelson had informed officials he will retire effective Wednesday.

The announcement came as the British government prepared legislation to eject Mandelson from the Lords and remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that came with his seat in the chamber. Mandelson will retain the title after he retires unless lawmakers pass legislation to strip it from him—something that has not been done for more than a century. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who fired Mandelson as ambassador to the US in September over his ties to Epstein, said Tuesday that he was "appalled" by newly released emails from Mandelson to Epstein passing on nuggets of political information. A government assessment found the documents contained "likely market-sensitive information" about the 2008 global financial crisis.