The latest explosive Epstein revelations have forced him to resign from his beloved Labour Party, he says, to save the party from "further embarrassment".

It's difficult to imagine what could be more embarrassing than this weekend's disclosure of alleged payments by Jeffrey Epstein to his partner, claims of lobbying a Labour chancellor on tax policy, and being photographed wearing nothing more than a T-shirt and a pair of underpants.

Announcing his resignation from the party on Sunday evening, he challenged some of the allegations in the Epstein files and repeated his claim that he had no record or recollection of the payments to his now husband.

He said he had written to Hollie Ridley, general secretary of the Labour Party, to say he was stepping down from his party membership.

But did he jump or was he pushed? Even if Sir Keir Starmer didn't demand his resignation, such an astute political operator as Lord Mandelson could see he couldn't remain in the party, and he had no alternative but to resign.

In his resignation letter, he wrote: "I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.

"Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.

"While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party."

He added: "I want to take this opportunity to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.

"I have dedicated my life to the values and success of the Labour Party and in taking my decision I believe I am acting in its best interests."

His resignation came only hours after the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, called on the PM to suspend his membership of the party and launch an investigation into the financial allegations.

'Completely disgraced'

And the Conservatives responded to his resignation with a further attack, a spokesman claiming: "Lord Mandelson is completely disgraced.

"Yet Keir Starmer lacked the backbone to take action, allowing Mandelson to resign from the Labour Party instead of kicking him out.

"Keir Starmer and his chief of staff appointed Mandelson ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein and then refused to act even as the mountain of evidence against him grew.

"Given the prime minister's appalling lack of judgment and the participation of his Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation."

But the resignation must have been a horrible wrench as well as a humiliation for Lord Mandelson, who had - as he lamented - dedicated his life to the party.

A scandal-tainted career

Indeed, he was born into the Labour Party. His grandfather was Herbert Morrison, one of the giants of Clement Attlee's post-war government.

But it was his attraction to the rich and famous and his fondness for the trappings of wealth that brought about what will be the final downfall of his scandal-tainted career.

He famously told tech executives when he was Sir Tony Blair's trade and industry secretary in 1998: "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich."

Then, acutely aware of the risk of damaging headlines, the former spin doctor known as the "Prince of Darkness", added hurriedly: "As long as they pay their taxes."

His final demise comes just months after Sir Keir was forced to sack him from the top diplomatic post of UK ambassador to the US over his association with the convicted sex offender Epstein.

But Epstein was by no means the first Mandelson scandal. He had to resign from Sir Tony's cabinet twice, first over an undeclared bank loan and then over intervening in a passport application by a top Indian businessman.

A controversial and divisive figure

Over four decades, nearly all on the frontline of British politics, he was a consummate political networker, but also one of the most divisive figures in public life and his appointment as ambassador was seen by critics as an act of cronyism by Sir Keir.

Acknowledging that Lord Mandelson - awarded a peerage in 2008 by Gordon Brown - was a controversial and divisive figure, Sir Tony declared in 1996: "My project will be complete when the Labour Party learns to love Peter Mandelson."

Read more:
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The Washington role is seen as the most glittering and important diplomatic post in the UK government. The perks of the job include the luxurious ambassador's residence in Massachusetts Avenue, a magnificent Queen Anne mansion designed by top architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.

When he appointed him as ambassador, Sir Keir saw Lord Mandelson as a skilful and persuasive link to the president, with his trade experience from his time as a cabinet minister and Brussels commissioner a vital qualification for the job.

Never one for false modesty, Lord Mandelson claimed that when he first walked into the Oval Office the president said to him: "God, you're a good-looking fellow, aren't you?"

Diplomatic triumphs

Lord Mandelson was credited with several diplomatic triumphs in Washington. He played a vital role in ensuring the UK escaped the worst of Trump's tariffs and he was instrumental in securing a much sought-after trade deal between the UK and the US.

And his silky PR skills were displayed when during Sir Keir's first visit to the White House in February, the PM theatrically pulled out of his inside pocket a letter from King Charles inviting the US president to visit the UK.

It was a classic Lord Mandelson stunt and confirmed he'd lost none of the flair for presentation he'd first deployed when he was Labour leader Neil Kinnock's spin doctor in the 1980s.

Lord Mandelson's high-profile political career began as a TV producer until his appointment as Labour's director of communications under Kinnock in 1985.

He was seen as a brilliant if ruthless spin doctor, who masterminded the birth of New Labour but would berate newspaper editors when unfavourable stories were written by their political journalists.

Another classic Lord Mandelson attempt to kill an embarrassing story was to tell the journalist who wrote or broadcast it in a sneering voice: "That is a story that I believe will remain an exclusive."

He became MP for Hartlepool in 1992 and helped propel Sir Tony to the leadership of the party after John Smith's death in 1994, a move that led to a bitter feud with Mr Brown.

There's an amusing story about Mandelson in Hartlepool, which he claimed is a myth and blames Kinnock for. It's claimed he ordered "some of that delicious guacamole" in a fish and chip shop, mistaking mushy peas for avocado dip.

It was a perfect Mandelson story, ridiculing his metropolitan tastes and ignorance of working-class life. But he claims the mistake was made by a young American woman student who was helping Labour's campaign.

'I'm a fighter, not a quitter'

His first cabinet job, trade and industry secretary in 1998, lasted only five months after he was forced to quit after failing to declare a home loan from Labour millionaire Geoffrey Robinson to his building society.

His resignation was similar in one respect to the demise of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner last year, in that it was over irregularities in buying a property: in Hove in her case, in fashionable Notting Hill in his.

He bounced back as Northern Ireland secretary in 1999 and was said to enjoy the luxury of Hillsborough Castle, which went with the job. But he was forced to resign a second time over claims he helped businessman Srichand Hinduja with an application for UK citizenship.

When he held his seat in Hartlepool in the 2001 general election, Mandelson made a passionate and defiant victory speech at his count in which he declared: "I'm a fighter, not a quitter."

Yet three years later he did quit as an MP, when he became a trade commissioner in Brussels, serving a four-year term during which he had a spectacular row with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who accused him of selling out French farmers in trade talks.

There were more controversies arising from his time in Brussels. In 2006, it was reported that he received a free cruise on a yacht from an Italian mogul who was said to have benefited from tariffs on Chinese shoes when Mandelson was EU trade commissioner.

Reports also claimed he had been lent a private jet by banking and business tycoon Nat Rothschild. And it was later reported that he had a holiday in August 2008 on the yacht of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska off the Greek island of Corfu.

Mr Deripaska was said to have benefited from a cut in EU aluminium tariffs introduced by Mandelson. But prime minister Brown said Mandelson's dealings with Mr Deripaska had been "found to be above board".

His political comeback

After Brussels came perhaps his most spectacular and unexpected political comeback, when in 2008 his old foe Brown, by now prime minister but facing challenges to his leadership, brought him back as business secretary with a peerage.

A year later, Brown awarded him the grand title, previously held by Michael Heseltine under John Major, of first secretary of state, a position he held until Labour's election defeat in 2010.

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To the end, Lord Mandelson remained a devoted Blairite rather than a soulmate of Mr Brown. And in the run-up to Sir Keir's 2024 general election victory last year, he was back in the fold, offering advice on campaigning and policy.

He got his reward with the plum job of ambassador in Washington. But his links to a very American scandal, involving the disgraced financier and sex offender Epstein, pushed him out of political life.

He may have hoped for yet another comeback, but that won't happen now. There are calls from opposition MPs for him to be stripped of his peerage. Currently on leave of absence from the Lords, he says he doesn't plan to return.

But what will hurt him most will be being forced to sever his link with the Labour Party that he was born into and which he served all his life. Until now. It's over.

For the first time, former TikTok worker Lynda Ouazar is speaking out to expose what she says was an environment of bullying, harassment and union busting at one of the world's biggest social media companies.

"I was finding it really hard to sleep at night, having flashbacks, feeling tired, losing my motivation," she tells Sky News.

Along with four of her former colleagues, she is now launching legal action against TikTok. This is the second court case the video app is facing from former UK employees in recent months.

Lynda started at the company as a moderator and then as a quality control worker, checking the work of external agency moderators.

At first, she enjoyed the job and found it rewarding.

But then, she was moved on to a workflow dealing with some of the most extreme content posted on TikTok.

"You don't want to see children being sexually assaulted, you don't want to see women going through all kinds of abuse, you don't want to see people self-harming, [...] using slur words all day long.

"It affected me."

Despite the type of content she was watching day in, day out, Lynda says there wasn't much support to keep moderators safe, and to ensure they were able to moderate TikTok's content effectively.

TikTok does tell moderators to take breaks when they need them and offers a mental health support platform.

But Lynda, and other moderators that Sky News has spoken to recently, say that in practice, they did not feel supported.

Instead, they felt pressured to work faster and harder, no matter how disturbing the content.

"You are monitored by AI all day long," she says.

This accusation that moderators are constantly monitored and feel pressured is something Sky News has previously been told by other moderators at the company.

"Moderators find themselves pressurised to deliver, so they have to carry on, even if you see something which really affects you and you feel like you have tears in your eyes," says Lynda.

"Sometimes you cry but then you carry on working because you have to reach those targets. Otherwise, your bonus will be affected, your job security, your salary, everything will be affected."

She says that pressure has a direct impact on user safety.

"When you work under pressure and you are under speed and you make errors, it means that things that should not be in the platform are actually still there.

"It's not good for the moderators, it is not good for the users of the platform."

That being said, according to its latest transparency report, TikTok removes more than 99% of harmful content before it is reported.

According to data gathered for the EU's Digital Services Act, it also has the lowest error rates and highest accuracy rates in moderation among all major social media platforms.

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After two years at TikTok, Lynda joined the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) union and became a union rep. This is when she started to feel like she was being bullied and harassed and believes it was because of her union membership.

"It took me some time, I would say a few months, to see the pattern."

She says as well as facing exclusion and bullying, her performance was downgraded from the highest possible rating to the lowest - but wasn't given a proper explanation as to why, even when she raised a grievance.

"Other employees who [previously] had no problems at all, which I helped recruit to become union members, also started going through the same pattern as myself."

When TikTok began a major restructuring programme to change how it moderates content last year, Lynda's team were told they were at risk. Of the 24 people at risk of redundancy, 11 lost their jobs.

According to the lawsuit, all of them had been openly involved in union activity at TikTok.

Stella Caram, head of legal at Foxglove, is helping to represent the former workers in the legal case.

"In this case specifically, we want compensation for the workers. They have been unlawfully dismissed because they were engaging with union activities," she tells Sky News.

"We wanted to make this a precedent because we've seen a lot of this happening across the world."

TikTok told Sky News: "We strongly reject these baseless and inaccurate claims.

"We have made ongoing enhancements to our safety technologies and content moderation, which are borne out by the facts: a record rate of violative content removed by automated technology (91%) and record volume of violative content removed in under 24 hours (95%)."

Anti-ICE messages were shared on stage by Billie Eilish, Dean and Bad Bunny while other stars including Justin and Hailey Bieber wore badges - all in opposition to the heightened presence of federal agents particularly in Minneapolis, which has become a flashpoint city.

Wiping away tears as she walked to the stage to accept the best new artist award, Dean told the audience: "I guess I want to say I'm up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant... I'm a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated."

The 26-year-old has had huge success over the past year following the release of her chart-topping smash hit, Man I Need, and now has one of the "big four" Grammys - which also include song, record and album of the year.

Her sentiment was echoed by Eilish, who accepted the award for song of the year, for Wildflower.

"No one is illegal on stolen land," Eilish said as she stood on stage alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas. The 24-year-old, whose winning track features on her album Hit Me Hard And Soft, urged people to keep protesting.

"It's just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I just, I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter."

Public backlash against the ICE operation, which is part of Donald Trump's mass deportation initiative, has grown since a Border Patrol officer shot and killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti - just weeks after Renee Good was shot dead in her car, less than a mile away.

Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny, whose DeBi TiRAR MaS FOtoS became the first Spanish language album to be named album of the year, started his speech for an earlier award with the words, "ICE out".

He continued: "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans."

For the main prize, he delivered the majority of his speech in Spanish, before saying in English that he wanted to dedicate the award to "all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams".

Kendrick Lamar among artists making Grammys history

The night saw Lamar become the most awarded hip-hop artist in Grammys history, with five prizes in total including the final of the "big four" - record of the year, for luther, his song with SZA.

Stars including Bieber, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Tyler, The Creator and Sabrina Carpenter gave performances during the show, along with a medley from Dean and her fellow best new artist nominees.

Lady Gaga was among the night's winners, taking home the statuettes for best pop vocal album for Mayhem, as well as best dance pop recording and best remixed recording for Abracadabra and its Gesaffelstein remix.

The star was emotional as the pop vocal win was announced, and used her speech to support fellow female artists and other women in the industry.

"I just want to say for women in music, that I know sometimes when you're in the studio with a bunch of guys, it can be hard, so I urge you to always listen to yourself, and always fight for your ideas, fight for your songs, fight for yourself as a producer, she said. "Make sure that you are heard loudly, and thank you so much for supporting me."

Another British win - and a Cher mix-up

Carpenter, Bieber, Sir Elton John, Bruno Mars and last year's best new artist, Chappell Roan, were among the nominated stars who missed out on prizes tihis year.

With more than 90 awards to hand out and only a few hours for the broadcast, history was made even before the televised show had started - as Golden, from Netflix mega hit KPop Demon Hunters, became the first ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy.

And in taking home the best pop solo performance for her hit song Messy, Lola Young ensured there was another big British win. This one was televised - and Young lived up to the spirit of the song as she told the crowd she "obviously" had not prepared a speech, and apologised for swearing.

Other British winners included FKA Twigs, who collected the best dance/ electronic album prize for her record Eusexua, and Cynthia Erivo, who won best pop duet/ group performance for Defying Gravity, her duet with Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.

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Elsewhere, Cher received a standing ovation as she picked up a lifetime achievement award - and provided a moment of levity with a mix-up as she presented the record of the year award, which went to Lamar and SZA's luther - not, in fact, to the late Luther Vandross, as she first appeared to say.

In fairness, the song does sample the late soul star's 1982 version of If This World Were Mine, with Cheryl Lynn, and Lamar and SZA arrived on stage laughing and joking with Cher.

"This is what music is about," he said. "Luther Vandross."

During an emotional In Memoriam section, artists including Post Malone and Slash performed War Pigs in tribute to heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne, who died last year. Lauryn Hill followed with her own tribute to D'Angelo and Roberta Flack, joined by musicians including Jon Batiste and her Fugees bandmate, Wyclef Jean.

Earlier in the evening, British star Yungblud won the award for best rock performance for his cover of Black Sabbath's Changes, which he performed at the band's farewell gig, Back To The Beginning, just a few weeks before Osbourne's death.

And director Steven Spielberg became the newest member of the select EGOT group - creatives who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony - after scooping best music film for Music By John Williams.

"Thank you to all the Grammy voters, whose recognition of Music By John Williams means the world to me," he said in a statement after the win.

Changes as part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act will be enforced from Monday.

Law enforcement will no longer have to prove online ads had led to crossings, as under the previous regulations, and will instead be able to prosecute proactively when they find postings.

Border security minister Alex Norris told the PA news agency his message to smugglers was: "We are coming for you."

Reducing the number of illegal Channel crossings is one of the key goals of the government, with Sir Keir Starmer claiming he had made progress on stopping Chinese-made boat engines reaching Europe while on a visit to Beijing last week.

The agreement will make it easier for law enforcement groups to share information with their Chinese counterparts, the government claimed.

Some 60% of the boats which crossed the Channel last year had motors made in China.

The National Crime Agency will deploy its Online Communications Centre to investigate thousands of social media accounts as part of the latest crackdown.

More than 10,000 accounts, pages and posts were shut down last year.

The Home Office shared examples of adverts for crossings, which appeared in English, French and Pashto.

"Social media ads promoting the corrupt promise of a life and work in the UK are truly sickening," Mr Norris told PA.

"To the people smugglers peddling this content, whether you are selling your vile trade online through 'golden package deals', supplying boat equipment or researching routes, we are coming after you.

"I will not stop until we've restored order and control to our borders."

Read more:
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So far this year, 933 people have crossed the Channel by small boat, with no one having made the trip since 20 January.

Last year was the second-highest year on record for crossings after 2022.

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The government has also announced agreements with several European nations to share intelligence on people smuggling in a bid to reduce illegal migration, in a tactic branded "smash the gangs" by Sir Keir.

A one-in, one-out exchange scheme with France is also being piloted, with illegally arriving migrants exchanged for asylum seekers.

Elena Walsh, from Birmingham, Mark Ashley, from Bedfordshire, Karen Pooley, from Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man all died last year after contracting severe gastric illnesses while staying on the island country off the coast of West Africa.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell is investigating their deaths, as well as the deaths of two other Britons who died on holiday there since January 2023.

It says it is representing more than 1,500 people who have fallen ill after visiting Cape Verde.

Ms Walsh, 64, died in August last year after falling ill during her stay at a resort on the island of Sal.

Mr Ashley, who had diabetes but controlled through medication, fell ill three days into his holiday in October last year, with symptoms including stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, and extreme lethargy.

His widow Emma told PA their family is in "complete shock" over his death.

"We went to Cape Verde expecting a relaxing break, but Mark became violently ill and never recovered," she said.

Ms Ashley says they booked their trip with Tui, which cost more than £3,000.

She first reported her husband's illness with Tui on 9 October, but his symptoms continued for some time upon their return to the UK.

On 12 November, Mr Ashley collapsed in their home in Houghton Regis and was pronounced dead in hospital minutes later.

Ms Pooley, 64, went on a two-week-long holiday in October last year that had also been booked through Tui and which cost more than £3,000.

She fell sick four days into the trip with gastric symptoms, and the next day slipped on water leaking from a fridge while going to the bathroom early in the morning.

She was airlifted to Tenerife for urgent care on 16 October and died the next day, her lawyers say.

Her husband Andy told the Press Association his wife appeared to be in "significant distress" when her family video-called her from home, and claims communication from both the clinic and holiday provider was poor.

"We were desperate for updates while watching Karen get worse," he said.

"We're devastated and struggling to understand how she went on holiday and never came home."

Read more from Sky News:
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Tourists left on drips after sickness bug

Irwin Mitchell says Ms Pooley's initial death certificate from Cape Verde authorities shows she died of multiple organ failure, sepsis, cardio-respiratory arrest and a broken left leg.

The two other Britons who have died while holidaying in Cape Verde since 2023 are Jane Pressley, who died aged 62 in January 2023 after falling ill during her holiday the previous November, and a man in his 60s who died in November 2024, who suffered gastric illness following a trip to the island country.

Personal injury claims

All six of the victims' families are making personal injury claims for damages against Tui.

"The number of holidaymakers to Cape Verde being struck down with serious and debilitating gastric illnesses is truly staggering. Nothing brings the gravity of this situation into sharper focus than these recent deaths," says Irwin Mitchell serious injury lawyer Jatinder Paul.

"In my experience, I'm used to supporting holidaymakers who have fallen ill at resorts across the globe, but I've never seen repeated and continued illness outbreaks at the same resorts on such a scale over such a period of time."

He added: "Understandably, those we represent have serious concerns about hygiene standards in Cape Verde. While nothing can make up for what's happened, we're determined to at least help establish the answers they deserve."

The law firm has called for tour operators to work with local authorities to ensure the highest hygiene and safety standards are always upheld.

Tui investigating claims

A spokesperson for Tui says it is fully investigating the claims being made and ensures any customers who fall ill while on holiday have access to appropriate care and assistance.

The holiday provider says sometimes individuals who fall ill do not report illness or seek support from them during their stay, which limits what they care they can offer.