Email exhibits Peter Mandelson reminiscing about his ‘first assembly’ with Jeffrey Epstein – as officers probe whether or not ex-Blair minister was feeding Cabinet secrets and techniques to paedo financier way back to 1999
Peter Mandelson reminisced about being introduced to Jeffrey Epstein at the lavish holiday home of a wealthy British-American businesswoman in emails published as part of the probe into the paedophile financier.
Documents show the disgraced former Labour minister talking about first meeting Epstein at the summer home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild in Martha’s Vineyard, an island enclave of the super rich in New England.
It came as officials investigating Lord Mandelson’s ties to the disgraced late child abuser were told to extend their probe to cover his time in government as far back as 1999, when he was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
It would also cover his time as business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister under Gordon Brown between 2008 and 2010.
Mandelson is believed to have known Epstein since the early 2000s, with previous documents released by the US House of Representatives showing the American covering his travel bills as far back as 2003, when he was on the backbenches as MP for Hartlepool.
The peer, who denies any wrongdoing, is currently the subject of a police investigation into accusations the peer passed market-sensitive information to Epstein in the 2000s.
While material from two decades ago is unlikely to be published, it could be passed to Scotland Yard detectives by civil servants, the Times reported.
Peter Mandelson with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photograph released by the Department of Justice
Documents show the disgraced former Labour minister talking about first meeting Epstein at the summer home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild in Martha’s Vineyard, an island enclave of the super rich in New England.
Lynn Forester is Lynn Forester de Rothschild, pictured above, far right, with her late husband Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and Bill and Hilary Clinton in 2003
In a 2013 email exchange with Epstein’s secretary Lesley Groff, published by the US Justice Department, Mandelson discusses a photograph he has been sent and asks where it was taken.
Groff replies that it might be Epstein’s island in the US Virgin Islands and has asked the paedophile if he knows.
Mandelson then replies: ‘I think it was Martha’s the first time I met Jeffrey, staying with Lynn Forester’.
The email exchange took place years after Epstein had served 13 months of an 18-month prison sentence in the US for procuring a girl under 18 for prostitution.
Lynn Forester is Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the businesswoman and widow of financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who was one of Britain’s richest men before his death in 2022.
She is also believed to have introduced Sarah Ferguson, the former duchess of York, to Epstein in the 1990s.
It came as Sir Keir was accused of ‘stuffing Government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists’.
The Prime Minister was also accused of pretending to care about violence against women to ‘save his own skin’ by Kemi Badenoch, amid simmering discontent following the fallout from the Mandelson scandal.
Sir Keir has faced significant pressure to quit, with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar being the most prominent Labour member to call for his resignation.
However, the lack of support for Mr Sarwar’s position from ministers in Westminster does suggest the immediate danger has passed.
The Prime Minister has said the political ‘turmoil’ would not stop him and pledged to lead the Labour Party into the next general election.
Today he was greeted to the despatch box by loud cheers from his Labour backbenchers, but his authority continues to appear fragile.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch claimed Sir Keir’s decision over Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador is not an ‘isolated’ one, as she questioned why former head of communications Matthew Doyle received a peerage despite his ties to a paedophile councillor.
She said: ‘The Mandelson episode was not an isolated incident. A few weeks ago he announced a peerage for one Matthew Doyle, his former director of communications.
‘Immediately after that, the Sunday Times published on the front page that Doyle campaigned for a man charged with child sex offences, yet despite the Prime Minister knowing this, he gave Doyle a job for life in the House of Lords anyway. Why?’
In his response, Sir Keir said: ‘Matthew Doyle did not give a full account of his actions. I promised my party and my country there will be change, and yesterday I removed the whip from Matthew Doyle.’
Lord Doyle has had the Labour whip removed, but calls for him to lose his peerage altogether, including from Labour Party chair Anna Turley, continue.
He apologised for campaigning for Sean Morton in 2017 after he had been charged over indecent images of children.
