Peter Mandelson ‘must resign now’ after ambassador sent ‘love you’ message to sex offender
Shock as it emerges Lord Mandelson sent supportive messages to Jeffrey Epstein even after Epstein had been accused of horrific child sex offences.
Lord Mandelson and Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Peter Mandelson sent paedophile Jeffrey Epstein supportive messages even after Epstein was accused of horrific child sex offences, it has emerged. The latest revelation, coming just hours after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer declared he had confidence in Lord Mandelson, sparked furious Tory demands for the Labour grandee to resign as Britain’s ambassador to the US – and cast doubt on Sir Keir’s judgment.
Epstein admitted procuring a child for prostitution in 2008 and received an 18-month jail term. He died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on further charges of sex-trafficking. But it has now emerged that Lord Mandelson, a former Labour Cabinet Minister who was hand-picked by Sir Keir for the top diplomatic role, wrote to the Epstein while he was facing charges in June 2008 and said: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
The FBI had opened an investigation in 2006 and the US Attorney’s Office prepared an indictment, a formal accusation, in June 2007. On June 30 2008, Epstein appeared in court to plead guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution, and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.
Details of the messages published by the Sun, which also revealed that shortly before Epstein’s sentencing, Lord Mandelson said: “Fight for early release.”
In email messages which have today been leaked, Mr Mandelson wrote: “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened.
“I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.”
He continued “Everything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.
“The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong.”
And in a separate email, Lord Mandelson offered advice to the sex offender. He told Epstein: “Reminder. You are fighting back so you need strategy, strategy, strategy. Remember the Art of War.”
The relationship is in the spotlight after the US House Oversight Committee published a 2003 “birthday book”, which includes a series of messages from Lord Mandelson to Epstein. In one, accompanied by a picture of the two chatting casually on a patio, Lord Mandelson wrote: “But whenever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!”
But that message came before it was known that Epstein was a sex-offender. The latest messages to be leaked show that Lord Mandelson remained close to Epstein even after he was accused of offences against children.
Speaking in Parliament today Sir Keir threw his full support behind his Labour colleague. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons: “I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship.”
The Prime Minister deflected questions from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch about when he knew about the friendship between Lord Mandelson and Epstein, saying only that “full due process was followed during this appointment”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said this afternoon: “These are sickening revelations.
“Mandelson’s position is untenable. Why did Starmer defend him today? How was ‘full due process followed’?
“This a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better.
“Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now.”
Peter Mandelson, as he was known before joining the House of Lords in 2008, was a leading figure in the Labour Party in the late 1990s and early 2000s and a close ally of Tony Blair, the former leader who became Prime Minister in 1997. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Northern Ireland Secretary and Business Secretary.
Speaking to The Sun, Lord Mandelson said he regrets “very, very deeply indeed carrying on” the association with Epstein “for far longer than I should have done”.
He said he “never saw the wrongdoing” or “evidence of criminal activity”. Giving his reaction to his birthday comments to Epstein being published, Lord Mandelson said: “I find them very embarrassing to see and to read, but they were written before he was indicted.”
Admitting more revelations are likely, he said: “I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges, emails between us. And we know those are going to surface.”
