Peter Mandelson nonetheless on six-figure ambassadorial wage regardless of being sacked | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Lord Peter Mandelson continues to be receiving a six-figure wage for being Britain’s ambassador to the US regardless of being sacked, it’s claimed. The Labour peer was axed from the function final month after his shut ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein have been revealed.

Emails emerged in September during which Lord Mandelson instructed Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly earlier than he was sentenced to 18 months in jail. He can also be reported to have instructed Epstein “I think the world of you” the day earlier than the intercourse offender started his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008. Lord Mandelson has now returned to the UK and has been pictured in Wiltshire for the primary time since coming again, stepping out of a black Land Rover.

According to The Telegraph, he stays on the Foreign Office payroll regardless of leaving his official residence in Washington on September 11.

Ambassadors can earn as much as £174,000 a 12 months and as he didn’t resign from the function, Lord Mandelson might be compensated for the fixed-term contract that he signed, it’s reported.

He is on a four-year, fixed-term contract, The Telegraph understands.

Sir Keir Starmer final week advised Lord Mandelson won’t ever get a Government job once more. The peer has beforehand stated he continued his affiliation with Epstein “for too long”.

Sir Keir had defended Lord Mandelson till the emergence of the emails, insisting he had gone via a correct vetting course of and had helped construct a profitable relationship with Donald Trump’s White House.

Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein had been recognized about, however Bloomberg and The Sun printed emails exhibiting that the connection continued after the crimes dedicated by the financier had emerged.

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty instructed MPs final month that info had not been recognized when Lord Mandelson was appointed.

He stated the emails confirmed “the depth and extent of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment”.

In a letter to embassy workers after his sacking, Lord Mandelson stated: “I continue to feel utterly awful about my association with Epstein 20 years ago and the plight of his victims.”