Peter Mandelson stripped of another honour over links to Jeffrey Epstein

Lord Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador by Keir Starmer last month after emails emerged laying bare the depth of his relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

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Peter Mandelson will be stripped of the Freedom of Hartlepool due to his close ties to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Councillors voted unanimously on Thursday to remove the honour from Lord Mandelson, who was Hartlepool's MP from 1992 to 2004.

It comes after he was sacked as US ambassador last month when leaked messages emerged allegedly showing him offering support to Epstein after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

The emails, obtained by Bloomberg, suggested he told Epstein to "fight for early release" shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was also reported to have told Epstein "I think the world of you" the day before the sex offender began his sentence.

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Lord Mandelson, one of the architects of New Labour, has already lost a number of honours bestowed on him by Manchester Metropolitan University, where he was chancellor form 2016 to 2024.

Now councillors in his former constituency have voted to remove his honorary title. The motion stated: "The Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Hartlepool is the highest civic honour the council can bestow.

"It is granted only to individuals who have rendered eminent services and whose conduct reflects the values and integrity of the borough.

"Recent disclosures have confirmed a longstanding and close relationship between Lord Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile, which continued after Epstein's conviction and until his death in 2019.

"Such an association is fundamentally incompatible with the values and dignity of this honour."

The motion stated that failing to remove the freedom would risk damaging the town's reputation.

Lord Mandelson previously told embassy staff in Washington that he deeply regretted the circumstances of his departure.

He said he continued "to feel utterly awful about my association with Epstein twenty years ago and the plight of his victims".