by Robert Peston
This is the story of what the Prime Minister knew about the ruinous emails sent by Peter Mandelson to the convicted billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and when.
On Monday, September 8, Bloomberg News, which had obtained more than 100 emails between Mandelson and Epstein, sent a letter to the Foreign Office containing excerpts of the emails and asking a series of questions.
These excerpts are what appeared on the Sun Newspaper’s website shortly before 5pm on Wednesday, September 10.
Bloomberg believes that somebody leaked the contents of the letter to The Sun in an attempt to take the sting out of their scoop, which Bloomberg hadn’t yet published.
But the relevance of the Sun story, in this context, is that it shows what was known in government circles about Mandelson’s emails to Epstein as early as Monday.
The letter contained quotes such as Mandelson telling Epstein, “your friends love you,” “you have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release [from prison]” and “you will come through it and be stronger for it”.
Having seen the Bloomberg letter, Sir Oliver Robbins wrote to the UK Ambassador to Washington, Lord Mandelson, on Tuesday, September 9, asking him whether the emails were authentic, why they were written and for other relevant information.
At the time of prime minister’s questions (PMQs) on Wednesday, September 10, Robbins and the PM were still waiting for Mandelson’s response to Robbins’s letter.
I am told that although Downing Street officials knew about the Bloomberg letter before PMQs, the prime minister had not seen the letter and he was not aware of the details of its damaging allegations when he said of Mandelson at PMQs, just after midday, that “I have confidence in him”.
Many Labour MPs question whether Keir Starmer was right to give that public support to Mandelson – temporarily – given that Downing Street was aware of the existence of the calamitous emails, even if much of the detail was yet to be revealed.
The PM may well feel let down that he was not told about the letter.
Robbins received a response from Mandelson to his letter on Wednesday afternoon.
There was then a wait till 9pm for Bloomberg to publish its lengthy exclusive story, which contained shocking details of how Mandelson had supported Epstein in his challenge to the official investigation into his sex trafficking of children and charges of procuring a minor for sex, and that he remained friends with Epstein during and after he was convicted and jailed.
Starmer reviewed the revealed emails that night.
He had been aware of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein when he appointed him US ambassador in December.
But on the night of September 10, the PM determined that Mandelson had not disclosed quite how close he was to Epstein when being vetted for the post, nor that he had supported Epstein in his fight to avoid conviction for paedophile crimes.
Within Downing Street, there were concerns, however, that sacking Mandelson could damage the friendly relationship Mandelson and Starmer had developed with US President Donald Trump and his administration.
But the following morning, on September 11, Starmer sacked Mandelson.
Peter Mandelson disagrees with the PM that his dismissal was inevitable. He has told colleagues the PM made a mistake in allowing the media to hound him from office.
As for Starmer, he continues to face questions about his judgment in appointing Mandelson in the first place, given that his friendship with Epstein was public knowledge and Mandelson had twice before been forced out of high office due to transgressions linked to his friendships with the super wealthy.
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