Peter Mandelson has apologised “unequivocally” to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for remaining friends with the paedophile financier after his conviction.
The former UK ambassador to the US had declined to apologise to Epstein’s victims over the weekend, later explaining he was “ignorant” of Epstein’s crimes.
In his first major broadcast interview since he was sacked in September, on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he only apologised for the system that meant Epstein’s victims were not listened to. But he did not apologise for his own association with the sex offender.
Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor, but Lord Mandelson said he believed his excuses and continued to support him.
However, in a statement released on Monday evening to the BBC’s Newsnight, Lord Mandelson offered a more direct apology.
He said: “Yesterday, I did not want to be held responsible for his [Epstein’s] crimes of which I was ignorant, not indifferent, because of the lies he told me and so many others.
“I was wrong to believe him following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.”
In the interview aired on Sunday, Lord Mandelson had said it was “misplaced loyalty” and “a most terrible mistake on my part”.
He had described Epstein as his “best pal” in what he admitted were “toe-curling” emails, but sought to distance himself by claiming that he was “on the fringes” of the financier’s life.
Emails showed Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein, “I think the world of you,” the day before the disgraced financier began his jail sentence.
Lord Mandelson suggested Epstein excluded him from the “sexual side” of his life because he was gay.
Asked by Ms Kuenssberg whether he wanted to apologise, Lord Mandelson said: “I want to apologise to those women for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect.”
Lord Mandelson was dramatically sacked from his role as UK ambassador to the US following mounting pressure over his revealed links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Sir Keir Starmer, who picked the Labour grandee to be the UK’s representative in Washington, made the decision to withdraw him after emails showed the peer sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.
Lord Mandelson said, “I deeply regret” the circumstances of his departure from the British embassy in Washington.
“Being ambassador here has been the privilege of my life,” he wrote in a letter to embassy staff, reported by the BBC.
