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Peter Mandelson’s messages to Jeffrey Epstein were “disturbing and sickening” and it’s “important that we get to the bottom of this”, a minister has said while insisting the PM retains confidence in the US ambassador.
Mike Tapp, the immigration minister, said he was personally disturbed the emails Mandelson sent Epstein in 2008 while he faced charges for soliciting sex from underage girls, and that they left “a bad taste in the mouth”.
The US ambassador and architect of New Labour is under pressure after the publication of his correspondence to Epstein after his arrest for procuring a child for prostitution.
The Conservatives and Scottish National party have called for Mandelson’s resignation, while the Liberal Democrats have demanded an investigation into whether he broke the diplomatic code.
Downing Street has insisted that “due process” was followed before his appointment as US ambassador.
In his emails Mandelson, who once described Epstein as his “best pal”, urged the disgraced financier to “fight for early release” and assured him that “your friends stay with you and love you”.
“I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened,” he wrote. “I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain.”
Tapp said he “shuddered” at hearing those words and that it was “important that we get to the bottom of this and do have all the answers”. He pointed to Mandelson’s statement on Wednesday expressing embarrassment and regret.
“What we’re seeing from Keir Starmer and from Lord Mandelson is everything is out now … as far as I know,” he added. “Keir Starmer has been clear yesterday in the House that all of the answers are there.”
Speaking to Sky News, Tapp said he would support MPs if they summoned Mandelson to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry. The Conservatives have called for the foreign affairs select committee to investigate Mandelson’s links to Epstein.
Tapp said he could not say whether Starmer would continue to have confidence in Mandelson through the course of the day. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The latest I have is that the statement made in the Commons yesterday at prime minister’s questions is still relevant, and Keir Starmer does have confidence in the ambassador’s ability. And what he means there is the important work that he’s doing in America.”
Asked if that could change in the coming hours, Tapp said: “I can’t say. I’m not the prime minister.”
In a statement to the BBC after his emails to Epstein were published by Bloomberg and the Sun, Mandelson said he “relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false. His lawyers claimed that it was a shakedown of him, a criminal conspiracy. I foolishly relied on their word, which I regret to this day.”
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Earlier on Wednesday, Mandelson gave an interview to the Sun where he admitted that more “very embarrassing” details of his friendship with Epstein would emerge.
He said the paedophile financier was a “charismatic criminal liar” and that he deeply regretted continuing their association “far longer than I should have”. “I feel a tremendous sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffered as a result of his behaviour and his illegal criminal activities,” he said.
Mandelson stressed that he never witnessed any wrongdoing and that he “never sought, nor did [Epstein] offer” any introductions to women in the same way he had done for others, “perhaps it’s because I’m a gay man”.
Earlier this week it emerged that Mandelson had described Epstein as his “best pal” in a series of messages included in a 50th “birthday book” released by US lawmakers.
When he faced questions in February about his association with Epstein from the Financial Times, Mandelson expressed regret but added: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly you can all fuck off. OK?”
