{"id":412032,"date":"2025-09-10T02:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412032\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T02:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:42:10","slug":"peter-mandelson-called-jeffrey-epstein-my-best-pal-in-50th-birthday-letter-peter-mandelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412032\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Mandelson called Jeffrey Epstein \u2018my best pal\u2019 in 50th birthday letter | Peter Mandelson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, called the deceased billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> \u201cmy best pal\u201d in a letter included within an alleged birthday book released by US lawmakers.<\/p>\n

The handwritten note, which is interspersed with photographs of Lord Mandelson, Epstein and some of his properties, was provided to the House committee on oversight and reform, the main investigating committee in the US House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

The bundle of correspondence was collated by Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender, for Epstein\u2019s 50th birthday and includes a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that appears to bear the signature of Donald Trump<\/a>. The White House denied the letter was authentic.<\/p>\n

The UK embassy in Washington was approached for comment but Mandelson, one of the architects of the New Labour project in the UK, has previously said he regrets \u201cever meeting\u201d Epstein<\/a> or \u201cbeing introduced to him\u201d by Maxwell.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Mandelson also told the BBC: \u201cLord Mandelson has long been clear that he very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the disclosure, the prime minister\u2019s spokesperson said Mandelson had responded to questions about his relationship with Epstein before, and that Keir Starmer continued to have full confidence in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focused obviously on our relationship with the US, with President Trump coming for an unprecedented second state visit next week to build on the progress we\u2019ve already made,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Mandelson\u2019s 2003 missive refers to Epstein as an \u201cintelligent sharp-witted man\u201d.<\/p>\n

It reads: \u201cOnce upon a time, an intelligent, sharp-witted man they call \u2018mysterious\u2019 parachuted into my life \u2026 you would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up \u2026 And often, no sooner were you used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone again \u2026 Leaving you with some \u2018interesting\u2019 friends to entertain instead \u2026 Or just some dogs to keep you company (he wasn\u2019t always so keen on them) \u2026 But then he would parachute back in \u2026 Very occasionally, taking you by surprise in some far off places \u2026 Or in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum) \u2026 But wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!\u201d<\/p>\n

Photographs of a person parachuting, Mandelson in shorts gazing from a balcony, a person on a kayak on the ocean, Mandelson with two women standing over a large table, an Irish whiskey label, a tropical island resort and finally Mandelson in a white dressing gown laughing with Epstein are included.<\/p>\n

Mandelson\u2019s links with Epstein have raised questions since a 2019 internal report on Epstein by JP Morgan bank was filed to a New York court. It found Epstein appeared to \u201cmaintain a particularly close relationship with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Lord Peter Mandelson<\/a>, a senior member of British government\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The disgraced financier Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in August 2019.<\/p>\n

The birthday book was turned over to the House oversight committee in response to a subpoena issued by its Republican chair, James Comer, and a letter from the Democrats<\/a> Sylvia Garcia and Ro Khanna urging Epstein\u2019s estate to produce the materials.<\/p>\n

The committee published the entire book on Monday. Other contributors included the former US president Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, called the deceased billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein \u201cmy best pal\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-412032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115177700877969561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}