Ngày 1.2, cựu Bộ trưởng Thương mại Anh Peter Mandelson đã rời khỏi Công đảng của Thủ tướng Anh Keir Starmer, sau khi xuất hiện thêm các thông tin mới về mối liên hệ giữa ông với cố tỉ phú ấu dâm người Mỹ - Jeffrey Epstein.
Ông Mandelson - người đã bị ông Starmer cách chức Đại sứ Anh tại Mỹ vào năm ngoái sau những tiết lộ trước đó về quan hệ với Epstein - cho biết, ông không muốn gây thêm “sự bối rối” cho Công đảng.
“I have been further implicated in this weekend in the wave of strong reactions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I regret and apologize for that,” Mr. Mandelson wrote in a letter to the Labour Party.
Mr. Mandelson also said that he believes the allegations of receiving money from Epstein - appearing in the British media based on documents released by the US Department of Justice - are untrue, and affirmed that he will investigate and clarify.
In the process, I did not want to cause further confusion for the Labour Party and therefore I decided to withdraw from my party membership" - the letter stated clearly.
Mr. Mandelson played an important role in the Labour Party's election victories under Prime Minister Tony Blair from the 1990s.
Last year, Mr. Mandelson became the focus of attention after US senators released documents, including a letter he called Epstein "my best friend", leading to his dismissal as British Special Envoy to Washington.
Mr. Mandelson's domestic political career before that was also turbulent. In 1998, he resigned as Minister of Commerce after being discovered to have received a loan from another minister to buy a house, raising suspicions of conflict of interest.
His second term in the cabinet also ended with his resignation in 2001, when he was forced to leave office due to allegations of involvement in a passport scandal involving an Indian billionaire. Afterwards, he was determined not to have committed any wrongdoing.
Mr. Mandelson is also a former European Union Trade Commissioner, currently on a temporary leave as a member of the British Senate.
In a related development, on January 31, Prime Minister Starmer said that Mr. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor - former member of the British Royal Family - should testify before a committee of the US Congress, after new revelations about his connection with Jeffrey Epstein.
