Sacked ambassador Lord Mandelson 'was in contact with Epstein until late 2016', leaked emails claim

The Labour grandee was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer as the UK's ambassador to the US in September after the extent of his friendship with the sex offender was revealed.

Emails disclosed then showed that Lord Mandelson was sending supportive messages to Epstein up until 2010 - including after his conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Correspondence from six years later was published on Wednesday among thousands of documents from Epstein's estate by the US House Oversight Committee.

The exchange begins with a November 2016 email in which Epstein can be seen to say to Lord Mandelson: "63 years old. You made it," in an apparent reference to his birthday.

The messages also appear to suggest Lord Mandelson warned Epstein to stay away from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was recently stripped of his titles by his brother, the King.

The warning purportedly came after allegations that the former prince sexually abused Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by the US billionaire.

Mountbatten-Windsor denies all allegations of wrongdoing against him.

Read more: Epstein 'confirmed infamous Andrew photo with Virginia Giuffre was real', leaked email claims

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Epstein appears to tells Lord Mandelson "you were right about staying away from Andrew".

The peer responds: "Yes, without Andrew it would not have gone nuclear."

In an email chain from 2011, Epstein forwards to Lord Mandelson a request for a radio interview sent to his attorney, Jack Goldberger.

He had been asked to speak about "stories which are circulating, however inaccurately, about both him and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York".

Lord Mandelson replies: "No!!"

The peer, a central figure of the New Labour era, was withdrawn from the Washington mission in September after emails emerged in which he told the disgraced financier to "fight for early release" shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He was also reported to have told Epstein "I think the world of you" the day before he began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.

Lord Mandelson's links with Epstein were widely known before Prime Minister Sir Keir took the unusual step of appointing a prominent political figure, rather than a career diplomat, to the Washington post in 2024.

But when he was fired, the Government said the emails showed "the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment".

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.