EPA
Lord Peter Mandelson had contact with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein as late as 2016, according to newly released documents.
The latest previous reported contact between the pair was when the then-business secretary took advice from Epstein in a banking deal in March 2010, just months after the American businessman’s release from prison for child sex offences, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.
Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US in September over his links to Epstein, after emails showed the peer sent him supportive messages after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor in 2008.
Lord Mandelson has repeatedly said he regrets his relationship with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking offences.
The new documents, which were released by the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee, include an email from Epstein to Lord Mandelson on 6 November 2015, shortly after the peer’s birthday, saying “63 years old. You made it”.
Lord Mandelson replies less than 90 minutes later saying: “Just. I have decided to extend my life by spending more of it in the US”.
Epstein then replies “in the Donald White House”, referring to the US presidential election due later that week.
Epstein goes on to say “you were right about staying away from Andrew. I was right in your staying with Rinaldo [sic]”, a reference to Lord Mandelson’s now-husband Reinaldo Avilda da Silva.
Lord Mandelson declined to comment on the emails when approached by the BBC.
They are among 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, which have been released by US lawmakers.
Lord Mandelson’s past friendship with Epstein has long been public knowledge.
However, he was fired from his ambassador role after the government said new information about the “depth” of their relationship had come to light, which was not known when he was appointed last year.
In emails published by Bloomberg in September, Lord Mandelson reportedly told Epstein to “fight for early release”, shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.
In another email, the day before Epstein began his sentence, Mandelson told him “I think the world of you”.
Lord Mandelson has previously said he never saw any wrongdoing while with Epstein and “fell for his lies”.
A key figure in the New Labour project which saw Tony Blair win the 1997 election, Lord Mandelson has been in and out of British politics for four decades.
He held a number of different ministerial roles in the government until 2010, when Labour lost power.
