Peter Mandelson stripped of freedom of Hartlepool

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98e23lk92no

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Lord Mandelson was the Hartlepool MP from 1992 to 2004

Peter Mandelson will be stripped of his freedom of the town honour in the area he used to represent as an MP.

The former Labour Hartlepool MP, who received the council's highest civic honour in 2010, was previously sacked as ambassador to the US over his connections to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Lord Mandelson previously said he deeply regretted the friendship.

Hartlepool Borough councillors unanimously agreed to withdraw his Honorary Freedom of the Borough, with the motion put forward by Labour noting "such an association is fundamentally incompatible with the values and dignity" of the honour.

Labour councillor Brenda Harrison, speaking at a full council meeting, said her group had come "to a unanimous decision on this as soon as the news broke".

"We haven't followed any examples of other people doing anything, it was a decision we made straight away," she said. "I think it's the right thing to do."

The chief executive was instructed to update the official records of the borough accordingly, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Lord Mandelson was Hartlepool's Labour MP from 1992 to 2004.

Documents emerged last month showing Lord Mandelson sent supportive messages to Epstein as he faced charges for sex offences in 2008.

He previously he admitted continued his association with Epstein "for too long".

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