LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Former British government minister Peter Mandelson has resigned as a member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party after new reports of his ties with disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, media reported on Sunday.
Mandelson, who was fired by Starmer as Britain's ambassador to the United States last year after previous revelations about his connections to Epstein, said he did not wish to cause "further embarrassment" to Labour, the reports said.
"I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this," Mandelson said in a letter to the Labour Party reported by the BBC and other news organisations, which Reuters was not immediately able to obtain.
Mandelson said he believed allegations about financial payments to him by Epstein, which appeared in British media based on files released by the U.S. Justice Department, were false and he would investigate them.
"While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party," the letter said.
Mandelson was key to the Labour Party's electoral success when Tony Blair was prime minister starting in the 1990s.
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He came under scrutiny last year after U.S. lawmakers released documents including a letter in which he called Epstein "my best pal", leading to his dismissal as Britain's envoy in Washington.
Mandelson also had a turbulent earlier career in domestic politics. In 1998, he quit as trade minister over a loan he received from a fellow minister to buy a house amid questions over conflict of interest.
A second stint in the cabinet also ended in a resignation in 2001 when he was forced out over his alleged involvement in a passport scandal involving an Indian billionaire. He was later cleared of acting improperly.
Mandelson, a former European Union trade commissioner, is on leave of absence as a member of the upper house of Britain's national parliament.
Separately, Starmer said on Saturday that Britain's former Prince Andrew should testify before a U.S. congressional committee, following new revelations about his links to Epstein.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Chris Reese)
