Labour grandee Peter Mandelson 'tried to introduce Tony Blair' to 'pal' Jeffrey Epstein

Labour grandee Peter Mandelson urged former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair to meet Jeffrey Epstein, the financier later found to be a sex offender, it has emerged. Lord Mandelson, now the UK’s ambassador to the US, tried to broker the meeting in 2002, when Sir Tony was Prime Minister.

He made the recommendation in a note he sent to key aides but publication of the document has been blocked, the Times reports. Documents were due to be made public as part of a standard National Archives release but officials concluded they might embarrass Britain and harm relations with the US.

Lord Mandelson was a backbench Labour MP at the time but had been a Cabinet Minister previously and was a close ally of Sir Tony.

Conservatives are demanding that Sir Keir Starmer reveal what he knows about Lord Mandelson’s friendship with the US financier, and when he found out.

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking, and was on the sex offenders register after pleading guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution.

Lord Mandelson has said knew nothings about any wrongdoing but feels “a tremendous sense of regret” about his friendship with Epstein.

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!”

In another, he wrote that Epstein was known for “taking you by surprise... in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)”,

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “The Prime Minister says he has full confidence in Peter Mandelson. Then he should tell us what he knew about Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and publish all his vetting documents now.

“If he really backs him, what has he got to hide?”

Tories have tabled a series of Parliamentary questions asking whether Lord Mandelson was quizzed about his connections with Epstein during the vetting process, before he was named ambassador.

Some of Epstein’s victims have demanded Lord Mandelson’s resignation. They include 41-year-old Sarah Ransome, who said: “Something is really, really wrong here. Peter Mandelson should not be ambassador. He needs to be fired. He is unsuitable to be ambassador.”

Deputy leader candidate Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the I newspaper there should be an investigation into a deal Lord Mandelson made with Epstein during his time as business secretary.

She said he should resign if he is found to have broken the ministerial code following the sale of a UK taxpayer-owned banking business in 2010 – after Epstein was convicted of sex offences.

Backbench MP Kim Johnson questioned the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as ambassador, telling The Telegraph: “The fact is this was known before he was given this position.”

She said: “As much as he says on radio that he regrets it, the fact is that he called him his ‘best pal’ in his birthday card, he made money from him.

“This suggests to me a very strong relationship because who sends cards with those comments on? He should never have got it in the first place.”

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.”