Jeffrey Epstein was always an issue for Peter Mandelson.
Well before the revelations of this week, the Epstein cloud hung over him and he knew it.
Back in May, Sky News was offered a chance to speak to him.
He’d just finished a speech at an event in Washington and his communications team had suggested that if we wanted some time with him then he’d be available briefly as he left the event.
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My colleague James Matthews waited outside the event for him to emerge.
When he did, James asked him about the speech and the prospects of a trade deal. He then asked about Epstein.
“I’m not answering any questions about him,” he said.
“My knowledge of him is something that I regret. I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”
“Why did you have an association with him?” he was asked.
“Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker and I wish I never met him in the first place,” Mandelson said.
We now know that for him to define his Epstein links as ”my knowledge of him” was a huge misrepresentation of the truth.
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After the interview, James and I both received angry messages from the embassy team. I have since learnt that the ambassador was very unhappy with the exchange.
One source told me at the time: “He was furious and you guys are in the deep freeze.”
Notably, Sky was not invited to briefings with the embassy for a few months, and engagement with the embassy was more challenging.
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We were not alone. In February, as he prepared to become the new ambassador, the Financial Times asked Mandelson about his relationship with Epstein.
“I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell,” he told the paper.
“I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women. I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly you can all f*ck off. OK?”
The Prince of Darkness couldn’t spin his way out of this.
