Peter Mandelson is facing fresh questions over his ties to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The British ambassador to the US has been linked to a 50th birthday photo book compiled for the financier by Ghislaine Maxwell, now in prison for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.
An apparent contribution by Lord Mandelson features a picture of the pair together, with the former minister grinning in a bathrobe, before he describes Epstein as his “best pal”.
Elsewhere in the message, Lord Mandelson appears to reference entertaining Epstein’s “interesting” friends, signing off with a note to say “we love you”.
It will raise fresh questions about the judgment of the man appointed by Sir Keir Starmer to handle relations with Donald Trump, also linked to the 50th birthday book.
But how did Lord Mandelson rise from political fixer to the prime minister’s point man in the US? And what do we know about his relationship with Epstein?
Peter Mandelson’s career
The Labour grandee was born into Labour politics.
Lord Mandelson is the grandson of former Labour home and foreign secretary Herbert Morrison. Aged just 12, he was invited to Downing Street by his neighbours, then prime minister Harold Wilson and his wife Mary.
The young Peter is said to have been “dazzled” at the time by the opportunity to sit in the prime minister’s chair. But Lord Mandelson’s work as a political fixer for the party has seen him go on to spend five decades at the heart of Labour politics.
His first taste of Labour politics was his 1979 election to Lambeth Borough Council, famously where Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeny also cut his teeth working for now environment secretary Steve Reed.
However, the hard left council was led by a man dubbed “Red Ted”, and so the young Mandelson stood down just three years later, disillusioned with Labour politics.
After a stint in TV, he was appointed by former Labour leader Neil Kinnock as the party’s director of communications, where his status as a political heavyweight began to take shape.
Despite defeat in the 1987 general election, before Margaret Thatcher’s third term in Downing Street, Labour picked up tens of seats and its media operation won praise.
He was selected as Labour’s candidate for the safe seat of Hartlepool in 1990, winning the seat at the 1992 general election, the last before the rise of Sir Tony Blair and New Labour.
The party was on course to take power from a tired Tory Party led by Sir John Major before the unexpected death of then Labour leader John Smith.
Lord Mandelson then found himself at the heart of a feud which would dominate British politics, Blair v Brown, after he backed Sir Tony for the leadership.
As a reward for his support, he was made director of Labour’s landslide 1997 general election campaign and was then handed a role in government.
He was later handed responsibility for trade and industry.
After briefly returning to the cabinet, Lord Mandelson had his eyes on Europe and took a job in 2004 as Britain’s European commissioner for trade – a role which may cause friction with EU-hating Mr Trump’s administration.
But it was four years later Lord Mandelson’s status as a Labour grandee would finally be sealed. In a controversial move, Mr Brown sought to shore up his government by bringing the former spin doctor back to UK politics by handing him a peerage and a role as business secretary.
Lord Mandelson became the first political appointee to the US ambassador role for almost 50 years.
He has faced scrutiny over his roles with lobbying firm Global Counsel, his links with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his views on China, Europe and globalism in a time of the rise of America First.
A shock report by JPMorgan Chase last year revealed the “particularly close relationship” between Lord Mandelson and the late paedophile Epstein.
Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
The dossier laid bare the senior political figure’s ties to the late paedophile – who was close enough to the former Labour cabinet minister to call him “Petie”.
The report also suggests that Lord Mandelson stayed at Epstein’s New York home in June 2009 – when he was still Mr Brown’s business secretary and the financier was serving 18 months in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Pictures of the pair together have repeatedly resurfaced, with photos being circulated on social media after it emerged he would be appointed US ambassador.
The latest revelation comes just months after Lord Mandelson reacted with a foul-mouthed rant when pressed about his friendship with the disgraced financier.
He also accused others of having an “obsession” with his relationship with the convicted sex trafficker who died six years ago.
He said: “I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.”
He went on to add: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an… obsession and frankly you can all f*** off. OK?”
Lord Mandelson’s apparent contribution to the birthday book, released by a Congressional committee, took the form of a poem to the financier.
“Once upon a time, an intelligent, sharp-witted man they call ‘mysterious’ parachuted into my life,” it opened.
The pictures included alongside the note included a shot of Lord Mandelson on a balcony in a pair of swimming trunks shot from behind, with his hands on his hips.
Lord Mandelson’s note appeared to reference “interesting” friends he had been left to entertain by Epstein.
“But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal,” it concluded. Lord Mandelson appeared to add: “Happy birthday, Jeffrey, we love you!!”
The British embassy in Washington was asked to comment.
There is no suggestion Lord Mandelson, who was friends with Epstein’s former lover Ghislaine Maxwell, had any knowledge of the paedophile’s wrongdoing.
In 2011, Virginia Roberts – who claims she was a sex slave to Epstein – said that she was introduced to Mr Mandelson at a dinner party at the financier’s house in New York.
She said: “I never heard of Jeffrey knowing Tony Blair, but he did know Peter Mandelson. I remember him being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party.
“He and Jeffrey talked business together. I assumed they were in business together. I was never asked to give him [Mandelson] a massage.”
Lord Mandelson’s spokesman has said he “very much regrets” the connection with Epstein while allies have said the pair met on no more than five or six occasions.
