Can Lord Mandelson cling on as Our Man in Washington? That is the question all of Westminster is asking this morning. The British ambassador to the United states did a grovelling interview with the Sun‘s Harry Cole today in which he admitted that he had continued his association with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein ‘far longer than I should have done.’ It comes after a congressional investigation discovered that the Labour peer had referred to Epstein as his ‘best pal’ in a birthday message he wrote for the convicted sex offender in 2003.
What did Mandy tell Starmer about his relationship with Epstein before being appointed Ambassador?
Mandelson told Cole there are further email exchanges between himself and Epstein that ‘we know are going to surface’. He said that: ‘We know they’re going to come out, we know they’re going to be very embarrassing. And they know that I’m being profoundly to regret ever having met him.’ It comes after allegations were made by the Telegraph overnight, claiming Epstein had brokered a deal with Mandelson over the £1bn sale of a UK taxpayer-owned banking business in 2010.
This was allegedly negotiated while Lord Mandelson was the Business Secretary, and only months after Epstein had been released from prison. It relates to the sale of Sempra Commodities – a joint venture between the Royal Bank of Scotland and Sempra Energy – to JP Morgan. At Prime Ministers’ Questions today, Sir Keir Starmer stood by Lord Mandelson. But for how much longer can that line continue to hold?
In the interests of transparency, Mr S has drawn up a list of six burning questions for Mandelson to answer. After all, sunlight is the best disinfectant:
1. How many times did he stay with Epstein?
2. What did he mean when he wrote ‘interesting friends to entertain’ in Epstein’s birthday book?
3. What did he tell Starmer about his relationship with Epstein before being appointed Ambassador?
4. Will he release all the ‘traffic, correspondence, exchanges, emails between’ him and Epstein he mentioned in the interview?
5. What exactly was Epstein’s role in the Sempra Commodities sale?
6. Did he breach parliamentary rules on registering hospitality when he visited Epstein?
Over to you Lord M…
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