Ex-British Cabinet secretary arrested following release of Epstein files

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Peter Mandelson, a former British business secretary and ambassador to the US, has been arrested "on suspicion of misconduct in public office" following the recent release of files related to American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, police said Monday.

"Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office," London Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Mandelson was arrested at an address in Camden, London earlier on Monday and has been taken to a London police station for interview, added the police.

The statement said the arrest follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire, South West England as well as Camden.

The arrest comes amid a criminal investigation into Mandelson following claims that he leaked government emails to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019.

The revelations – which have already contributed to the resignations of senior aides to Prime Minister Keir Starmer – have reignited scrutiny of Mandelson’s past associations and drawn comparisons to some of Britain’s most damaging political scandals.

His reported ties to Epstein have fueled a political crisis described by some commentators as the most serious since the Profumo affair of the early 1960s, which ended the career of Secretary of State for War John Profumo.

Mandelson, long dubbed a political "spin doctor" and the "Prince of Darkness" for his strategic prowess and backroom influence, saw his decades-long career conclude with his recent resignations from both the Labour Party and the House of Lords.