Photograph: US Committee on Oversight and Government Reform/PA WirePeter Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords after a series of scandalous emails came to light that linked him to the child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, including ones that apparently leaked confidential UK government communications. A Downing Street spokesman said it was “right” that Mandelson is quitting adding: “As the prime minister said this morning, Peter Mandelson let his country down.”A file photograph of Peter Mandelson, then British ambassador to the US, and British prime minister Keir Starmer. Photogaph Carl Court/PA WireThe prime minister told the cabinet he found it incomprehensible that more could not be done to strip peers of their titles for poor behaviour. “The prime minister believes there is a broader need for the House of Lords to be able to remove transgressors more quickly,” his spokesperson said. “The prime minister regards it as ridiculous that a peerage cannot be removed except with primary legislation, something that has not happened since 1917.

Source: The Irish Times February 03, 2026 18:16 UTC