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.
Mr. Mandelson - who was dismissed by Mr. Starmer as British Ambassador to the United States last year after previous revelations about his relationship with Epstein - said he did not want to cause more "confusion" for the Labour Party.
“Tôi đã bị liên đới thêm trong những ngày cuối tuần này vào làn sóng phản ứng gay gắt xung quanh Jeffrey Epstein và tôi lấy làm tiếc và xin lỗi về điều đó” - ông Mandelson viết trong một bức thư gửi Công đảng.
Ông Mandelson cũng nói rằng ông tin các cáo buộc về việc nhận tiền từ Epstein - xuất hiện trên truyền thông Anh dựa trên các tài liệu do Bộ Tư pháp Mỹ công bố - là không đúng sự thật, đồng thời khẳng định sẽ điều tra làm rõ.
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.
