While US President Donald Trump’s own ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to be under scrutiny, Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador to the US, has also spoken out about his recently resurfaced links with the late financier. The Brit official was dragged into the seemingly never-ending scandal as the alleged infamous “birthday book” compiled by the pedophile’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 has been in the headlines these past few weeks.
UPDATE: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has now fired Mandelson over his scandalous past connections with Epstein. While announcing that he had been sacked, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty noted the leaked emails showed “that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment” as the UK ambassador to America in 2024.
He added, “In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes, he has been withdrawn as ambassador with immediate effect.”
The Wall Street Journal originally shed light on the so-called book in July. Its mentions resurfaced in headlines as the US House Oversight Committed unsealed more records linked to the late pedophile this week. The controversial compilation included a sexually suggestive letter signed off by Trump, which he refused to have penned. As the MAGA leader tries his all to juggle these allegations, Lord Mandelson’s name also popped up in the same trove of documents.
British Ambassador to US was Epstein’s ‘best pal’?
The documents so-released also had another letter inclusion in the alleged ‘book’ for Epstein’s 50th birthday, wherein the British ambassador called the sex offender his “best pal.” He further described the controversial figure as an “intelligent, sharp-witted man” who “parachuted” into his life, as per BBC.
On top of that, leaked emails from June 2008 – as shared by The Sun – shed light on Mandelson telling Epstein “fight for early release,” as he wrote, “Your friends stay with you and love you,” while the financier was facing prostitution charges. In the years-old message, Mandelson also affirmed he thought the “world of” Epstein and felt “hopeless and furious” about what had happened.
A message shared hours before Epstein was sentences, Mandelson wrote, “You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can. The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong.” In yet another email from that year, Mandelson reminded Epstein to hold on to the lessons from the “Art of War.”
Peter Mandelson responds to Jeffrey Epstein links
The Brit ambassador’s spokesperson didn’t dispute the claims about Mandelson helping the disgraced financier strategise amid his legal embroilment. If that’s not all, the emails also put the focus on Epstein requesting Mandelson to consult “your guy” to indulge in talks with someone he called “mr big” for him.
In the wake of the duo’s old friendship gaining new life in headlines this week, Mandelson said more “very embarrassing” details of their years-old ties would come to light soon. Nonetheless, he foregrounded that he never came across any “wrongdoing” during the term of his friendship with the financier.
Further addressing the issue, he highlighted in his very first public comments on the matter that neither did he ever seek, “nor did [Epstein] offer” to introduce women to him the way he done for others. “Perhaps it’s because I’m a gay man,” Mandelson added, as per the Guardian.
On the contrary, Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s survivors, claimed that she was introduced to the government official at a dinner party hosted by the pedophile in New York in 2011.
Appearing on the ‘Harry Cole Saves the West’ podcast, he called Epstein a “charismatic criminal liar,” while expressing regret over their friendship “far longer than I should have.”
Epstein-Peter Mandelson ties go deep
According to a 2019 JPMorgan internal report cited by the Telegraph, emails written by Epstein revealed he had brokered meetings with then-business secretary Mandelson and the investment bank’s then-chief executive Jes Staley. The records also indicated that Lord Mandelson spent time at the financier’s Manhattan apartment in 2009 while the disgraced billionaire was behind bars.
The leaked emails have further determined that fiver years after Epstein pleaded guilty to the solicitation of a minor, Mandelson asked for his help in vetting an Israeli advisor, according to The Times.
More about Peter Mandelson
He was appointed UK ambassador to America in December 2024, and he started the role on February 10, 2025. Over the years, he’s been in numerous crucial positions in the government under Prime Minister Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown, according to the official UK government website.
From 2008 to 2010, he was First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Prior to that he was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2001. In 1998, he was Secretary of State for Business Trade. Although he has now taken indefinite leave from it, he was appointed to the House of Lords in 2008.
The public policy advisory firm Global Counsel’s co-founder also served as a the European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. But years before that, he was the Labour Party’s Director of Campaigns and Communications (1985-1990), and then Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004.