U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday fired Peter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the U.S., over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Why it matters: Mandelson's relationship with the disgraced financier was thrust back into the spotlight after the release of Epstein's so-called "birthday book" earlier this week. In it, he described Epstein as his "best pal." • A separate tranche of emails between Mandelson and Epstein surfaced in the days that followed, redoubling calls for his ouster, the BBC reports.

Driving the news: "In light of additional information in emails written by Peter Mandelson, the Prime Minister has asked the foreign secretary to withdraw him as ambassador to the United States," Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said in a statement in

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