Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Celebration chief, referred to as the emails “sickening” and mentioned Mandelson’s function was untenable earlier than his sacking.
“It is a weak prime minister, main a authorities mired in scandal. The general public deserves higher,” she mentioned earlier than Mandelson bought the boot.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat chief, demanded a civil service inquiry into breaches of the diplomatic code.
A number of Labour MPs have been privately livid at Starmer’s determination to nominate Mandelson earlier this yr regardless of his identified affiliation with Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 and launched in 2009.
One MP mentioned Downing Road had handled the scandal as “a foolish Web conspiracy,” whereas one other described it as a “boys’ membership mentality.”
Gloria Allred, the U.S. lawyer who represents dozens of Epstein’s victims, mentioned Mandelson ought to testify earlier than Congress.
“These girls deserve solutions about how highly effective figures enabled Epstein,” she mentioned.