Peter Kyle has doubled down on his defence of Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Britain’s former ambassador to the US despite his known association with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Business Secretary came under fire last week for suggesting that the Labour grandee’s “singular talents” meant he was deemed “worth the risk.”
Asked about his comments as he spoke with broadcasters on Friday, Mr Kyle insisted that “the talents we needed at that time were the ones Peter had”, but said he did not defend any of Lord Mandelson’s actions towards Epstein.
“What I said at the time of this coming out is explaining why he was appointed in the first place,” Mr Kyle told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“Nobody is appointed to becoming ambassador to a great country, on behalf of our country, unless you have talents.
He said he did not “defend any of the actions that Peter Mandelson took in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, absolutely not”.
Sir Keir Starmer sacked Lord Mandelson earlier this month after new messages emerged showing he had sent supportive messages to Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences.
Mr Kyle suggested over the weekend that the pros and cons of making the Labour peer Britain’s top man in Washington had been assessed beforehand.
Despite existing public knowledge of his relationship with Epstein the appointment went ahead. The Prime Minister later said that he would not have given him the job had he known the extent of their association.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said it was “astonishing that the new Business and Trade Secretary has openly admitted that Downing Street chose to prioritise Mandelson’s ‘singular and outstanding talents’ over the rights of Epstein’s victims.”
He said this showed “poor judgment”, and “it is a shameful betrayal of the victims and a blatant attempt to protect one of Labour’s most powerful insiders”.
There had been concerns the issue could cast a shadow on the US president’s second state visit to the UK this week, not least because Donald Trump was also close to Epstein, although they fell out before his conviction in 2009.
Sir Keir will have been relieved to avoid further awkwardness over the matter with only one question on Epstein in a joint press conference at Chequers on Thursday.
Mr Trump said: “I don’t know him actually” when asked whether he had sympathy with Lord Mandelson for being sacked over historic links to the sex offender.
He continued: “I had heard that and I think maybe the Prime Minister would be better speaking of that. It was a choice that he made and I don’t know.”
The Prime Minister said: “Well, I mean, it’s very straightforward. Some information came to light last week which wasn’t available when he was appointed. And I made a decision about it, and that’s very clear.”
