Peter Mandelson’s ministerial assistant sent Jeffrey Epstein a copy of a government speech before it was delivered to the public, just days after the paedophile financier was released from prison, documents uncovered by Sky News appear to show.
The assistant signed off the message as executive assistant to the secretary of state on the email that appears to be sent from a government address to Epstein’s Gmail account.
The time of the email says it was sent on 24 July 2009, just two days after Epstein left prison for sexual offending.
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There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on behalf of the assistant.
Lord Mandelson is currently under police investigation for misconduct in public office.
The email from Lord Mandelson’s assistant to Epstein says: “Peter has asked me to forward you the attached speech he is delivering on Monday. Thanks.”
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The name of the attached speech is BirkbeckFINAL.doc, and the subject line of the message is HE Speech – a potential reference to higher education.
Three days later, Lord Mandelson delivered a speech at Birkbeck, University of London, where he laid out the government’s expectation that university fees were set to rise, and that British university courses should be marketed worldwide, according to a contemporary report from the FT.
Then business secretary, it was Lord Mandelson’s first speech on tertiary education, having only just taken on the area in his brief.
At the bottom of the email, the first of its chain, is a footer saying the email was sent from the Government Secure Intranet.
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People who worked in the tertiary education sector at the time were unable to say if advance sight of the speech would have provided Epstein with a financial advantage.
The emails contained within the Epstein files show Lord Mandelson approaching him for advice on various topics.
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Nick Hillman, who was working for the Conservative shadow education team at the time, told Sky News: “I cannot fathom why Peter Mandelson thought this would be of interest to the sort of people with the power to move the markets.”
Sky News asked the Cabinet Office if it would look into the speech sent outside of government, but was referred to the police investigation into misconduct in public office, which has so far only identified Lord Mandelson as being connected.
The Metropolitan Police referred Sky News to a previous statement, which said: “This will be a complex investigation requiring a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.
“It will take some time to do this work comprehensively and we will not be providing a running commentary.”
Asked about the possibility that the speech broke the law, legal experts said the bar for prosecution on misconduct in public office is very high.
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Jo Grady, the head of the University and College Union, told Sky News: “This is yet another example of Mandelson’s close ties to the convicted paedophile, and he should be made to explain why he was giving Epstein advance sight of his speeches on the funding of higher education.
“Our thoughts should always be with the victims who have suffered at the hands of these abusive and powerful men. But we should not forget that Mandelson’s impact on public life has been corrosive, and this includes higher education.”
Sky News has approached the ministerial assistant for comment.
