Peter Mandelson says he was kept ‘separate’ from Epstein’s ‘sexual side’ because he’s gay

House of Lords peer and ex-Labour MP Lord Peter Mandelson said he believed he was kept “separate” from ex-pal Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of women and girls because he is a gay man.

Mandelson, who held Cabinet positions under ex-prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was sacked from his role as ambassador to the US by current prime minister Keir Starmer in September over links to the disgraced financier and paedophile.

Epstein – who was known for his raft of wealthy and influential friends like Donald Trump and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York – pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. He died on 10 August 2019 while in federal custody and awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, with his death ruled a suicide.

Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday (11 January), Mandelson claimed he was not aware of Epstein’s abuse of women and girls and was “kept separate” from that part of Epstein’s life as he is gay.

“Possibly some people will think because I am a gay man… I wasn’t attuned to what was going on. I don’t really accept that,” he said.

“I 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.”

Mandelson cited examples of staying at Epstein’s properties in New York and New Mexico, as well as his infamous island, during which “Epstein was never there”.

Mandelson recalled: “The only people that were there were the housekeepers, never were there any young women or girls, or people that he was preying on or engaging with in that sort of ghastly predatory way that we subsequently found out he was doing.”

During the interview, Kuenssberg asked the former MP if he would like to apologise to the victims of Epstein for continuing his friendship with him following his first conviction in 2008.

“I 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,” Mandelson said.

“That system gave him protection and not them.

“If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise for it. But I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable of what he was doing.”

Mandelson was sacked from his ambassador role by Starmer after the US House Oversight Committee released further files related to Epstein, including emails between the pair and a copy of an alleged “birthday album” put together by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving time in prison for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.

The book, entitled The First Fifty Years and dated from 2003, was released as part of a raft of documents known as the “Epstein files” which refers to information and evidence amassed during criminal investigations into Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and children, and includes transcripts, records, and items confiscated during raids of his luxury properties.

Within the book, a contribution appears to be from Mandelson alongside photographs of the pair together – including an image of the former minister reclining in a bathrobe – and in which he described Epstein as his “best pal”.

The message written in the book and attributed to Mandelson reads: “Once upon a time, an intelligent, sharp-witted man they call ‘mysterious’ parachuted into my life… you would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up…

“And often, no sooner were you used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone again… leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead…

“But then he would parachute back in… very occasionally, taking you by surprise in some far-off places… or in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)…

“But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!”

Mandelson claimed to the BBC that the government “knew everything” when choosing to give him the ambassador role, but admitted the government did not know about his email exchanges with Epstein “because they came as a surprise to” him.

“I didn’t remember sending them… they no longer existed on my server,” he said.

Mandelson went on to say he understood why he was sacked and said Starmer “found himself in the middle of what must’ve seemed to him to have been some kind of thermonuclear explosion”.

“I wish I’d had the opportunity to remind him of the circumstances of my relationship, my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and how I came to write the emails in the first place,” Mandelson said.

“I didn’t, so I understand why he took the decision he did, but one thing I’m very clear about is that I’m not going to seek to reopen or relitigate this issue. I’m moving on.”