Peter Mandelson tells journalist to 'f*** off' when asked about relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
6 February 2025, 13:02 | Updated: 6 February 2025, 13:12
Lord Peter Mandelson has told a journalist to "f*** off" when asked about his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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Questions have previously been raised about links between Britain's new incoming ambassador to Washington and Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
But asked about his relationship with the financier by the Financial Times, Lord Mandelson said he did not want to discuss it.
He said: "I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
"I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.
"I'm not going to go into this. It's an FT (Financial Times) obsession and frankly you can all f*** off. OK?"
He made the comments during an in-depth interview as he prepared to take up his new role representing Britain's interests to the US.
Mandelson's ambassadorial appointment has been controversial among some circles close to the US president.
Having previously withdrawn his description of US president Donald Trump as "a danger to the world", he insisted he would treat the new administration with "respect, seriousness and understanding of where they are coming from politically".
Lord Mandelson also dismissed comments from one of Mr Trump's advisers who described him as "an absolute moron", saying the remarks had been the result of "young minds ploughing their own furrow on a sea of too much inauguration alcohol".
He added: "Some around Mr Trump see me as they view many in Europe. They see me as a left-wing progressive, somebody who might even be anti-business or somebody who might be following the sort of liberalism they've just defeated in America.
"What they will discover is I'm not an uber-liberal, I'm not a wokey-cokey sort of person, and I'm pro-market and pro-business."
But he warned that even his diplomatic ability, which he said saw former president George W Bush dub him "silver tongue", may not be enough to exempt Britain from Mr Trump's threatened tariff regime.
He said: "I don't think we'll be singled out as a target country, but if tariffs are imposed across the board, then we'll be caught."
Unlike some other nations threatened with tariffs, Britain imports more from America than it exports - something ministers have said could help exempt the UK from being targeted by Mr Trump.
Lord Mandelson said he regretted his choice of words in past comments about the US president.
"In 2019, I was a bit irate," Lord Mandelson said in an interview.
"But nonetheless, the words I used about the president were childish and wrong."
The Government is attempting to build bridges with the Trump administration and exempt British goods from the global tariffs the new president has threatened to impose.
Prince Andrew's emails appear to expose longer ties to Jeffrey Epstein
