Mandelson should 'just do it' and apologise to Epstein victims, says Labour minister
Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor but Lord Mandelson said he believed his excuses and continued to support him
Lord Peter Mandelson has been told to "just do it" and apologise to the victims of Jeffery Epstein by Labour minister Peter Kyle.
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The former UK ambassador to the US declined to say sorry for remaining friends with the paedophile financier after his conviction, instead suggesting that he knew nothing of the "evil monster's" sex life because he was a gay man.
His words were not appreciated by the Business and Trade Secretary, who told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that any Epstein associates should be "apologising whenever they are asked to do so".
Read more: 'Over a million' new documents potentially related to Epstein case uncovered
"I think that people around that man [Epstein] should be apologising whenever they are asked to do so. My thought always in this, we should never forget that there are victims at the heart of this," Kyle said.
"Peter Mandelson did express remorse and regret, but I just think every time you're asked to apologise, just do it."
When asked about Mandelson's "gay man" defence, Kyle added: "I'm a gay man myself and I do realise that we are treated differently, but I have no idea about the relationship around Epstein.
"All I know is that anyone who had any association with that man should be thinking very carefully about it."
Speaking for the first being sacked from his diplomatic role in Washington in September last year, Lord Mandelson said he had paid a "calamitous" over his association with Epstein.
He did apologise for a system which meant Epstein’s victims were not listened to, but not for his own association with the sex offender which continued after his first conviction.
Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor but Lord Mandelson said he believed his excuses and continued to support him.
Lord Mandelson said it was “misplaced loyalty” and “a most terrible mistake on my part”.
He sought to distance himself from Epstein, saying “I was at the edge of this man’s life”, but emails have revealed the extent of their friendship even after the conviction.
“I 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," Lord Mandelson said.
He added: “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.”
Asked whether he wanted to apologise, Lord Mandelson said: “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.”
Pressed on whether he would apologise for his friendship with Epstein after his conviction, Lord Mandelson said: “If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise… 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.”
Asked if he deserved to be sacked by Sir Keir Starmer, Lord Mandelson said: “I understand why I was sacked.”
He added: “I understand why he took the decision he did. But one thing I’m very clear about is I’m not going to seek to reopen or relitigate this issue. I’m moving on.”
Emails showed Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his jail sentence.
Asked why he had stuck with Epstein, Lord Mandelson said: “It was a most terrible mistake on my part. I believed the story he told in 2008 in his first indictment in Florida, I accepted his story, and I wish I hadn’t.
“I gave my support to somebody because I believed what he was telling me, and it was misplaced loyalty, but I just have to say this to you: while it’s had the most calamitous consequences for me, the crux of this is not me. The crux of this is not the friendship I had 25 years ago with Jeffrey Epstein.
“The crux of this is that so many hundreds of young women were completely trapped, powerless in a system that did not listen to what they had to say.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “I think what we saw there in that interview was, at best, deep naivety from Peter Mandelson.
“And I think it would have gone a long way for the women who were subjected to the most appalling treatment at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein for Peter to have apologised and taken that opportunity.”
While Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein was widely known, the Cabinet minister said: “I think the breadth and the nature of the relationship that Peter Mandelson had with Jeffrey Epstein only became clear at the point at which those emails were published in September of last year, and that’s why the Prime Minister acted swiftly, took immediate action to remove him as the ambassador to the United States.”
She said if she were in a position like Lord Mandelson with Epstein after his conviction “I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole”.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.