LONDON

Peter Mandelson, a former British business secretary and ambassador to the US, has been released on bail, the London Metropolitan Police said Tuesday, hours after his Monday arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to convicted American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The force said a 72-year-old man had been released pending further investigation.

He was arrested at an address in Camden, north London, on Monday and taken to Wandsworth police station for interview. The arrest followed search warrants at two addresses in Wiltshire and Camden, police said.

The arrest comes from 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.

He became British ambassador to the US in February 2025 but was sacked in September after Downing Street said new information about the depth of his relationship with Epstein had emerged.

The government has said it expects to release the first documents relating to his appointment as envoy to the US in “early March.”