Lord Mandelson reportedly gave Jeffrey Epstein advice, including to push for early release, as he faced child sex offences in further revelations that will pile pressure on the Washington ambassador to step aside.
The prime minister is facing increasing demands to sack his controversial pick to lead the UK’s diplomatic efforts in the US, after fresh details emerged of the now Lord Mandelson’s previous close friendship with the disgraced former banker.
In fresh revelations on Wednesday evening, leaked emails seen by The Sun saw the Labour grandee write to Epstein in June 2008: “Your friends stay with you and love you.”
And before the disgraced businessman was sentenced to 18 months in prison, Lord Mandelson urged: “Fight for early release.”
In one message, the Labour grandee 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.”
It 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.”
A separate email showed the now UK ambassador to the US offering strategic advice, quoting ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu.
He said: “Reminder. You are fighting back so you need strategy, strategy, strategy. Remember the Art of War.”
When The Sun approached Lord Mandelson for comment, the paper reported that he did not deny the messages were sent but instead reiterated his apology over his links with the convicted paedophile.
On Wednesday morning, Britain’s ambassador to Washington said he was “very embarrassed” to read a birthday message he wrote to Epstein in which he described him as his “best pal”.
The messages, part of a 50th birthday book compiled for Epstein by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, also saw Lord Mandelson express “love” for the financier and joke about entertaining his “interesting” friends.
While Lord Mandelson has insisted he regrets ever meeting Epstein, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph has detailed a two-decade friendship between the pair, which lasted even after Epstein was jailed for a child sex offence in 2008.
The newspaper reported that Epstein advised Mr Mandelson and senior JPMorgan executive Jes Staley on the bank’s purchase of Sempra Commodities, a joint venture between the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Sempra Energy, only months after Epstein was released from prison.
Speaking to The Sun’s Harry Cole on his YouTube channel after the controversial birthday message to the convicted paedophile was revealed, Lord Mandelson said: “I find them very embarrassing to see and to read… but, as you say, they were written before he was indicted.
“I just feel two things now. One, I feel a tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffered as a result of his behaviour and his illegal criminal activities.
“And secondly, I regret very, very deeply indeed, carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done.
“It was a matter of years after I initially met him, and I regret very much that I fell for his lies.”
Lord Mandelson went on to say that “perhaps because I am a gay man”, he may have been blinded to Epstein’s criminal behaviour.
But, asked whether there were more revelations to come about the relationship, Lord Mandelson said: “I have no doubt at all that there’s a lot of traffic, correspondence, exchanges between us – absolutely. And we know those are going to surface.
“We know they’re going to come out. We know they’re going to be very embarrassing, and they know that I’m going to profoundly regret ever having met him and been introduced to him in the first place.”
Despite the revelations, Sir Keir Starmer given Lord Mandelson his full backing, insisting: “I have confidence in him – he is doing an important job.”
But there are now growing calls for the prime minister to sack him, with angry Labour MPs today joining calls for him to go.
Breaking ranks, Labour deputy leadership hopeful Bell Ribeiro-Addy called for an investigation by Sir Keir’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, saying: “There will be a huge amount of concern, and if the outcome is that he should resign, he should.”
Ian Byrne, who had the Labour whip restored in February after being suspended following a vote on the two-child benefit cap, told The Independent: “MPs get suspended by the party, like I did, for voting against putting children and disabled people into poverty, but calling the world’s most infamous paedophile and child-trafficker your ‘best pal’, amongst other comments, that’s OK! It stinks to high heaven.”
The Independent has contacted Lord Mandelson for comment.
