Live updates: Trump news; 9/11 remembrance ceremony pays tribute to losses from Twin Towers attack in New York

London — Peter Mandelson was fired as Britain’s ambassador to the US on Thursday, after his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became another unwelcome problem for embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Mandelson had been under mounting pressure over his relationship with Epstein after US lawmakers on Monday released a “birthday book,” compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, in which Mandelson had penned a handwritten note describing Epstein as “my best pal.”

But Starmer forcefully defended his ambassador on Wednesday, telling parliament that Mandelson had his “full confidence.”

Hours later, the scandal snowballed after Bloomberg published a trove of emails between Mandelson and Epstein, in which Mandelson expressed support for his friend and offered to discuss his infamous 2008 Florida case with his political contacts.

Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges and served 13 months in prison after a controversial plea deal. But the emails obtained by Bloomberg showed that Mandelson continued to support Epstein after that conviction.

Britain’s Foreign Office told CNN in a statement the emails showed that “the depth and extent” of the now-ex-ambassador’s relationship with Epstein is “materially different from that known at the time of his appointment.”

Read more about the ambassador’s firing here.