British politician Peter Mandelson is quitting the House of Lords as he faces new questions, and a potential police investigation, over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The Speaker of the House of Lords, Michael Forsyth, said on Tuesday that Mandelson had announced he would retire from Parliament’s upper chamber on Wednesday.

The announcement came as the British government prepared legislation to eject Mandelson from the Lords and remove the noble title, Lord Mandelson, that came with his seat in the chamber.

Mandelson will retain the title after he retires unless lawmakers pass legislation to strip it from him – something that has not been done for more than a century.

The government also said it had sent a file of material to police who are looking into allegations that Mandelson passed sensitive government information to the late sex offender.

A trove of more than 3 million pages of Epstein-related documents released by the US Justice Department has brought excruciating revelations about 72-year-old Mandelson, who served in senior government roles under previous Labour governments and was UK ambassador to Washington until Starmer fired him in September over his ties to Epstein.