Lord Mandelson has called Jeffrey Epstein a “master manipulator” following the release of historic emails and documents that link the former Labour MP to the disgraced paedophile.
The disgraced Labour peer, who was fired as US ambassador last year, has been the subject of fresh revelations from the Epstein files, including a photograph of him in his underwear and claims that he shared sensitive government information.
There are also allegations that Epstein sought to sway banking policy, and further incriminating photographs including one showing Mandelson and Epstein relaxing together on a yacht.
In an interview with The Times, Lord Mandelson likened Epstein to "dog muck that you can’t get off your shoe" and the “bubonic plague”.
He resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday, saying he wanted to prevent “further embarrassment”.
The Met has said that it is reviewing “a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in a public office”, and there is growing political pressure for Lord Mandelson to be stripped of his titles.
Downing Street has said that prime minister Keir Starmer believes Lord Mandelson “should not be a member of the House of Lords” and that he has asked the Cabinet Secretary to urgently review his emails with Epstein.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has also asked the Cabinet Office to investigate, after what he described as the “wholly unacceptable” disclosure of confidential material, while opposition parties have called for the police to examine the claims.
The newly released material includes records showing alleged payments totalling $75,000 to accounts linked to the Labour peer in 2003 and 2004 - but Lord Mandelson insists he has “absolutely no recollection or records of receiving his money and I think I would remember such a large sum.”
He does, however, accept that his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, received £10,000 from Epstein to fund an osteopathy course, just a month after Epstein was released from prison for child prostitution offences.
Lord Mandelson told The Times: “Epstein told Reinaldo that he had an educational foundation which gave bursaries or scholarships and offered one for an osteopathy course. I saw this as kindness, nothing more. It was a great help to Reinaldo and I thanked him.
“In retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment for Reinaldo to accept this offer. At the time it was not a consequential decision.”
Lord Mandelson insisted there was no attempt to influence him, and that his husband is not accused of any offence.
He said: “[Epstein] told me he had been framed in his indictment in 2008 and I feel really bad about continuing my association with him afterwards. That’s why I wanted to apologise unequivocally for doing so, to the women and girls who suffered.”
Lord Mandelson said he was simply “too trusting” of a man he can now see was a calculating predator, adding: “Epstein was a master manipulator. I can see that now.”
He also likened the disgraced financier to “muck that you can’t get off your shoe… Like dog muck, the smell never goes away,” while describing the damage caused by his association.
Regarding his sacking as US ambassador, Mandelson said: “It was like a 5.30am drive-by shooting.
“I was at the edge of something. Suddenly, I was put at the centre of it - as a result of historical emails of which I have no memory and no record.”
He could not recall anything related to the image taken inside Epstein’s Paris apartment, which shows the former ambassador in his underwear.
Lord Mandelson said he has “no idea what I am doing in this photograph or who the woman was. It looks as though she came in and showed me something on an iPad.”
He also appeared to rule out calls for him to attend Congress and speak to the committee investigating Epstein, saying: “There is nothing I can tell Congress about Epstein they don’t already know.
“I had no exposure to the criminal aspects of his life. For so many years the voices of his victims were not heard and now Congress has rightly opened everything up.”
Lord Mandelson rejected calls to disappear from public life, despite describing recent events as a “life-changing crisis”.
“Hiding under a rock would be a disproportionate response to a handful of misguided historical emails, which I deeply regret sending,” he said.
The peer added: “I've had a lot of bad luck, no doubt some of it of my own making.”
