Ex-UK envoy Mandelson says sorry to Epstein victims, stops short of apologising for ties

United Kingdom’s former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson, who was dismissed last year over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, apologised on Sunday to Epstein’s victims but stopped short of apologising for his own association with him.

Speaking to the BBC, Mandelson said his apology was directed at institutional failures rather than his personal conduct. “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,” he said when asked whether he wished to say sorry for his links to Epstein.

Dismissal after emails surfaced

Mandelson was sacked in September after emails revealed a far closer relationship with Epstein than had previously been acknowledged. The veteran British politician had referred to Epstein as “my best pal” and had advised him on how to seek early release from prison.

At the time, the UK government said the extent of Mandelson’s ties to Epstein appeared “materially different” from what was known when he was appointed ambassador.

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‘I was not knowledgeable’

Mandelson said he would only apologise for his personal relationship with Epstein if he had known about the crimes or had been complicit in them.

“I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable of what he was doing,” he said.

He added that he had believed Epstein’s account. “I believed his story and that of his lawyer, who spent a lot of time trying to persuade me that he had been falsely criminalised in his contact with these young women. Now I wish I had not believed that story.”

‘An evil monster’

Rejecting suggestions that he knowingly ignored abuse, Mandelson said it was inconceivable that he would have turned a blind eye.

“Do you really think that if I knew what was going on and what he was doing with and to these vulnerable young women that I’d have just sat back, ignored it and moved on?” he asked, describing Epstein as an “evil monster”.

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Successor appointed

Following Mandelson’s dismissal, the UK government appointed Christian Turner as the next US ambassador, a move seen as significant at a sensitive moment for transatlantic relations.

Mandelson also said he believed that, as a gay man within Epstein’s social circle, he had been kept “separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life”.