MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been reminded of his “responsibilities as a participant in English football” after he triggered a storm of criticism for claiming Britain had been “colonized” by immigrants.
But England's Football Association will not be charging Ratcliffe over his comments, which were widely condemned by political figures, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the club's supporters.
The governing body issued Ratcliffe with a reminder of his responsibilities when taking part in media interviews, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
British billionaire Ratcliffe, who owns petrochemicals giant INEOS, made the comments during an interview with Sky News, which aired last week.
“You can’t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,” he said. “I mean, the U.K.’s been colonized.”
Ratcliffe's comments touched a nerve in Britain, where immigration is a divisive issue. He later said he was sorry his choice of language had “offended some people.”
Starmer had earlier called for him to apologize, saying “Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse country".
United fans, who are proud of the diversity within the team and its supporter base, also condemned his words.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust said the “senior leadership should make inclusion easier, not harder.”
Critics accused Ratcliffe of “hypocrisy,” saying he has chosen to make his home in Monaco to reduce his U.K. tax bill.
United's head coach, Michael Carrick, said earlier Friday that the Premier League club was proud of its culture of equality and diversity.
Carrick, who was recently hired as coach until the end of the season, faced the media for the first time since Ratcliffe’s remarks and he was asked for his response.
“Sir Jim has made a statement, and then the club’s made a statement on the back of it so for me to add to that is not my place," he said. “What I can say is, as I’ve been around this club many, many years, we always make a huge impact globally.
“We’re really proud of the environment and the culture that we’ve got at the club, and equality and diversity and respect for each other is something that we look to carry through every day.”
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FILE - Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe stands in front of the former manager Alex Ferguson during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United in Manchester, England, on Sept. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)
LONDON (AP) — The lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, a former U.K. ambassador to the United States, collapsed into a form of bankruptcy Friday in the wake of the scandal surrounding his links to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Global Counsel said it had halted operations and that roughly 80 U.K.-based staff were being laid off after many customers cut ties with the company following revelations about the scale of Mandelson's friendship with the disgraced financier, who died in a New York prison in 2019. The company has around 130 employees worldwide.
Mandelson, who jointly set up Global Counsel in 2010 after the Labour Party was ejected from power, resigned from its board in 2024 and sold his shares in it earlier this month in an apparent attempt to insulate the company from the scandal engulfing him.
Administrators at consulting firm Interpath have been appointed to consider options for the business and to review its assets.
“While Global Counsel had grown over the past 15 years to become one of the U.K.’s leading public affairs consultancies, the rapid and sudden loss of clients over recent weeks has had a monumental impact on the business," said Will Wright, U.K. chief executive of Interpath and joint administrator.
Within the millions of pages of files related to Epstein that were released by the U.S. Justice Department, emails indicated that Mandelson passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to his self-proclaimed “best pal” in 2009, when he was a leading member of the then-Labour government.
They also included records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva. Mandelson has questioned the authenticity of the bank statements. In a letter to Labour in resigning from the party, Mandelson said he had no recollection of receiving that money and would investigate.
Following the release of the Epstein-related documents, police searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him.
The U.K. police investigation into Mandelson centers on potential misconduct in public office, and Mandelson is not accused of any sexual offenses. On Thursday, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on the same suspicion but related to his years as a trade envoy for the U.K.
The appointment of Mandelson to the plum diplomatic job nearly cost British Prime Minister Keir Starmer his job as questions swirled around his judgment. Mandelson's decades-long career has been clouded with controversy and included two resignations from Tony Blair's governments at the turn of the century.
Barely nine months after the appointment, Starmer fired Mandelson in September after an earlier batch of emails was published showing he had remained friends with Epstein even after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor.
The government plans to release files related to the vetting process that it hopes will exonerate Starmer and show Mandelson lied.
Peter Mandelson leaving his home in Wiltshire, England, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
Peter Mandelson leaving his home in Wiltshire, England, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
A person leaves the home of Peter Mandelson in north west London, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 as British police are searching two properties linked to ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson as part of probe into potential misconduct stemming from his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein.(AP Photo/Thomas Krych)
FILE - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, talks with Britain's ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, file)
British Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson speaks during the rededication ceremony of the George Washington Statue in the National Gallery in London, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE - Britain's Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, speaks during a reception at the ambassador's residence on Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, File)
