The former deputy leader of the DUP has welcomed the departure of Lord Mandelson from the House of Lords.

Nigel Dodds, the party’s leader in the house, said the public revelations about paedophile financier Epstein continue to get more “disturbing”, six years after his death.

The exit from Parliament of Lord Mandelson (who was until last year the UK’s ambassador to America) came two days after the peer had quit the Labour Party.

Lord Dodds told the News Letter tonight: “Lord Mandelson has said he stepped aside in order not to bring the Labour Party into disrepute.

placeholder image — Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex offences (and had been jailed for soliciting child prostitution in 2008); Lord Mandelson has now quit the House of Lords over his ties to him, which endured past his conviction in 2008

“That was the correct decision, and it was equally right that he did so to protect the standing and integrity of the House of Lords.

“The more that is revealed about the Jeffrey Epstein case, the more deeply disturbing it becomes.

“As further details emerge, serious questions are inevitably raised about the judgment of those who chose to associate with him.

“Public confidence in our institutions depends on high standards of conduct and accountability, and resignation was the appropriate course of action in these circumstances.

“Alongside this, there must be a full and thorough inquiry into how government information was leaked.

“Public confidence in our institutions depends not only on high standards of conduct, but also on accountability and transparency when those standards are called into question.”

It emerged this week that Epstein was sent details of internal discussions from the heart of the UK government after the global financial crisis.

Lord Mandelson appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers' bonuses in 2009 (after his child sex conviction), and to confirm an imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010 – and more.

Baroness MacLeod, special advisor to then-chancellor Alistair Darling as the government responded to the 2008 financial crash, said it was a “terrible breach of trust”.

She said her former boss, who died in 2023, would have been “shocked at the scale of this treachery”.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Five months ago Mandelson was UK ambassador with the full confidence of the PM.

“The scandal, sleaze, and speed of his downfall only increases the scrutiny on Starmer [and his] decision to send him to Washington.”

UUP peer and former party leader Lord Empey said of Lord Mandelson’s resignation: “This was the right course of action and avoids the House having to take action itself.

“More importantly, the Metropolitan Police have quickly established that there is sufficient evidence for them to launch a criminal investigation linked to emails alleged to have been sent by Lord Mandelson when he was business secretary, which contained references to critical financial information that could be of benefit to Epstein or his associates.

“With regard to his title as a peer, that is a matter for the Prime Minister to determine what action to take, but it is now clear that Sir Keir Starmer and No 10 Downing Street failed in their duty to carry out proper due diligence when appointing Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.

"The Prime Minister will have to answer for this serious mistake, given that red flags had already been raised in the public domain and his association with Epstein was already known to Sir Keir.”