LORD Mandelson has left his official residence in Washington – but remains on the Foreign Office payroll despite being sacked.
The ousted US Ambassador was ‘withdrawn’ from his role after sickening emails between him and his ‘best pal’ child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein emerged.
However, he still be employed by the Foreign Office and in receipt of his six figure salary, which rivals the Prime Minister’s, it is understood.
Despite being removed from his post, the Labour peer remains on the books and is thought to have received more than two weeks’ pay.
Usually, diplomats who are withdrawn from their posts remain employed by the Foreign Office and are assigned a new post.
With this an unlikely scenario in Mandelson’s case, there are questions about why he remains an employee.
Foreign Office sources declined to comment on ‘HR matters’, suggesting that there has not been a resolution in his case.
However, he is understood to have left the Ambassador’s residence in Washington 24 hours after Sir Keir summarily sacked him from his role.
Lord Mandelson has left his official residence in Washington – but remains on the Foreign Office payroll
The ousted US ambassador called Jeffrey Epstein his ‘best pal’ in a ten-page birthday message to the convicted paedophile
Lord Mandelson’s message featured photos of himself, with one of him talking to Epstein while wearing a bathrobe and another of him wearing swimming shorts
But in contrast to his sacking from Global Counsel, the firm he set up, he remains a Foreign Office employee more than two weeks on.
The corporate strategy company got rid of the New Labour architect just minutes after he was fired as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
It came after their wealthy clients ‘expressed concern’ about being ‘tarnished by association’ with the peer who defended his paedophile friend Epstein.
The downfall of Mandelson came after a series of embarrassing emails emerged in which he attempted to help his friend despite the charges against him.
It took Sir Keir several days to remove the disgraced peer from his post despite Cabinet ministers and Labour MPs expressing their disgust.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was ‘completely disgusted’ by his behaviour.
The former ambassador is said to have refused to resign, not wanting to have been forced into the position for a third time after previous humiliations.
His formal status as ambassador was withdrawn with ‘immediate effect’ rather than in a personal phone call between him and Sir Keir.
A formal legal justification for his removal was reportedly drawn up in the event that he refused to ‘go quietly’.
It is not clear whether this could be used in the future to remove him as an employee of the Foreign Office.
Allies claim Mandelson had admitted in his vetting interview that he continued his relationship with Epstein for many years, yet was appointed anyway.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel called for ministers to explain why taxpayers were still paying Mandelson’s salary.
‘Keir Starner and his morally bankrupt government are up to their neck in sleaze and appalling scandals,’ she said.
‘Having lied to cover up the truth over Mandelson’s relationship with the convicted paedophile, Epstein, it is scandalous to discover that British taxpayers are still funding Mandelson’s salary.
‘Starmer must explain why taxpayers are still funding Mandelson, why he has not taken swift action to remove Mandelson’s ties to the British state, and when he will be honest with the public and Epstein’s victims and explain why he thought Mandelson’s appointment to the prestigious role as Ambassador to the United States was justified in the first place.’
Upon his appointment as ambassador, he took a leave of absence from the Lords which he has to revoke to return.
This is a formal process and he must write to Lords authorities giving three months’ notice of his return to duties.
He is not believed to have made contact so far.
US President Donald Trump, who had forged a good relationship with Mandelson, did not learn of his removal until after it happened.
The Foreign Office declined to comment.
