\n<\/p>\n
Peter Mandelson has declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s victims for staying friends with the convicted child sex offender, and suggested that as a gay man he knew nothing of the financier\u2019s sex life.<\/p>\n
The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an interview to the BBC on Sunday, saying he had paid a \u201ccalamitous\u201d price for his association with the \u201cevil monster\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lord Mandelson\u2019s association with Epstein had long been known when Keir Starmer appointed the peer as US ambassador. However, he was removed from his diplomatic post after No 10 said it had been unaware of emails from Mandelson to Epstein suggesting the financier\u2019s 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged.<\/p>\n
Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 and served time in jail but Mandelson said he had believed his excuses and continued to support him out of \u201cmisplaced loyalty\u201d and \u201ca most terrible mistake on my part\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his interview with BBC One\u2019s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg the peer sought to distance himself from Epstein, saying he was \u201cat the edge of this man\u2019s life\u201d, despite \u201ctoe-curlingly embarrassing\u201d emails showing his support and a birthday message describing him as a best pal.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Mandelson on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. <\/span> Photograph: Jeff Overs\/BBC\/PA<\/p>\n After the interview, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said she thought Mandelson should have apologised, adding: \u201cI think what we saw was at best deep naivety.\u201d The Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika said she was \u201cdisappointed with the BBC\u201d for the interview, which she described as a \u201cslap in the face to Epstein victims\u201d.<\/p>\n The interview was Mandelson\u2019s first broadcast appearance since being sacked from his diplomatic role in Washington in September last year. He said: \u201cI never saw anything in his life when I was with him, when I was in his homes, that would give me any reason to suspect what this evil monster was doing in preying on these young women.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI think the issue is that because I was a gay man in his circle, I was kept separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he wanted to apologise, Mandelson said: \u201cI want to apologise to those women for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n Pressed on whether he would apologise for his friendship with Epstein after his conviction, the peer and former business secretary said: \u201cIf I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise \u2026 but I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable for what he was doing, and I regret, and will regret to my dying day, the fact that powerless women were not given the protection they were entitled to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he deserved to be sacked, he said: \u201cI understand why I was sacked.\u201d He added: \u201cI understand why [Starmer] took the decision he did. But one thing I\u2019m very clear about is I\u2019m not going to seek to reopen or relitigate this issue. I\u2019m moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n In one of the emails released in September, Mandelson wrote to Epstein after his conviction saying: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n It continued: \u201cEverything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.\u201d<\/p>\n The friendship between the two men came under a renewed spotlight after Democratic members of the US house oversight committee released Epstein\u2019s 50th \u201cbirthday book\u201d, in which Mandelson called him \u201cmy best pal\u201d in a handwritten note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Peter Mandelson has declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s victims for staying friends with the convicted child sex offender, and suggested that as a gay man he knew nothing of the financier\u2019s sex life. The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[2364,10485,7768,3703,4157,3695,1994],"class_list":{"0":"post-41305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-apologise","9":"tag-association","10":"tag-declines","11":"tag-epstein","12":"tag-jeffrey","13":"tag-mandelson","14":"tag-peter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}