OSLO, Norway (Reuters) — Norway’s foreign ministry on Sunday said a prominent ambassador and key Oslo Accords mediator, Mona Juul, would step down due to a “serious failure of judgement” over ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, part of a growing scandal in the Nordic country and across Europe.

The ministry earlier this week suspended Juul from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq pending an internal inquiry into links to Epstein found in a massive set of files released by the United States government.

“Juul’s contact with convicted sex offender Epstein has shown a serious failure of judgment. The case makes it difficult to rebuild the trust that the role requires,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.

Juul, 66, a former junior government minister, previously represented Norway as ambassador to Israel, Britain, and at the United Nations.

In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit on Sunday,........

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