Peter Mandelson says he needs he by no means met Jeffery Epstein | EUROtoday

The UK’s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, has stated he “regrets” his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Lord Mandelson has repeatedly been quizzed on his friendship with the paedophile and convicted intercourse trafficker.

Epstein died in jail in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on costs of intercourse trafficking minors.

An inner JPMorgan report from 2019, filed to a New York courtroom in 2023, stated that “Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of the British government”, in keeping with the Financial Times.

The file laid naked the Labour grandee’s ties to the late paedophile – who was shut sufficient to the previous Labour cupboard minister to name him “Petie”.

It isn’t clear when Mandelson was launched to Epstein, although a 2002 New York Magazine stated he had a cocktail party at Epstein’s Manhattan house. A photograph of Mandelson and Epstein celebrating a birthday at Epstein’s Paris house in 2007 emerged in 2022.

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There isn’t any suggestion of wrongdoing by Mandelson.

Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, the UK ambassador to the US was requested if he stayed in certainly one of Epstein’s properties whereas he was in jail.

He replied: “I’m not answering any questions about him. My knowledge of him is something I regret, I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

He was then pressed on if he had a relationship with Epstein whereas he was in jail. Lord Mandelson replied: “Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker. And I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

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Earlier this yr, the Labour grandee instructed the Financial Times: “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.”

He went on so as to add: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly you can all f*** off. OK?”

Lord Mandelson was appointed UK ambassador to the United States in December 2024.

He had described Donald Trump as a “danger to the world” in 2019. Following his appointment as ambassador, he stated his feedback have been “ill-judged and wrong”.