Tag Archives: peter mandelson

Cabinet Minister Squirms As He Is Reminded How He Described Peter Mandelson After His Sacking

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Minister Peter Kyle was put on the spot this morning over how he praised Peter Mandelson last week – even though Mandelson had just been sacked as US ambassador over his Jeffrey Epstein ties.

Keir Starmer fired his US ambassador more than a week ago, after it emerged that Mandelson had continued to support Epstein via email, even as he was facing child underage sex charges in 2008.

Mandelson’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender was already public knowledge when he was appointed less than a year ago.

And, speaking to Sky News last weekend – three days after Mandelson was fired – Kyle insisted that No.10 initially thought hiring the controversial figure as US ambassador was still worth the risk.

He said: “We knew that there were risks involved, but his talent led us to believe at the time that the risk was worth it.”

Kyle said while they “knew the relationship continued” after Epstein’s conviction, “the decision was taken in the national interest to try and use the specific talents that he had, which were singular and outstanding.”

Those remarks caused significant backlash with the public, especially as he said them after the depth of Mandelson’s links with Epstein post-arrest were revealed.

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday, presenter Rob Rinder asked Kyle if he still stood by that assessment.

Kyle just insisted that new evidence had come to light which was not available at the time of Mandelson’s hiring.

“That just doesn’t answer the question,” Rinder hit back. “Let me ask you in this way.”

He said it was well-known that Mandelson had previously stayed in the home of a convicted sex trafficker at the time of his appointment, adding: “At that point, anyone doing analysis, doing any kind of investigating [or vetting], would have said ‘Where are your emails?’”

Kyle said there was an independent vetting system in place that was operating in its usual way – before deflecting to talk about the impact of Donald Trump’s state visit.

But co-presenter Kate Garraway brought the conversation back to Mandelson, pointing out that Kyle has been criticised because he “continued to defend” him post-sacking.

“One minister told us at Good Morning Britain that you seem to be ‘tone-deaf’,” she added. “And other MPs have said that too. Is it going to have an impact on you?”

The cabinet minister replied: “Let me be really clear: I do not defend any of the actions that Peter Mandelson took in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, absolutely not.

“What I am trying to do is show that we have been focused on delivering for people. As soon as new evidence came to light, why on earth would I ever defend what had come to light in those emails?”

“But it had?” Garraway pointed out. “It had come to light.”

Kyle stuttered before insisting: “The context of those emails was not known at the time of appointment.”

“No, but your defence was!” Garraway said.

Rinder cut in: “To close it off, the statement you made – that his ‘singular talents’ were worth the risk – you no longer think that?”

“What I said at the time of this coming out was explaining why he was appointed in the first place,” Kyle insisted.

“No one is appointed to being ambassador of a great country on behalf of our country, unless they have talents.”

He added that Mandelson should have been recalled as soon as new information came to light.

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Cabinet Minister Heaps Praise On ‘Outstanding’ Peter Mandelson Despite Sacking Over Epstein Row

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A cabinet minister has described Peter Mandelson as “outstanding” despite him being sacked over his close links with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Peter Kyle, an ally of the former UK ambassador to Washington, also defended Keir Starmer’s decision to give him the job in the first place.

Mandelson was sacked on Thursday morning following the publication of emails in which he told Epstein “your friends stay with you and love you” even as he was facing child underage sex charges in 2008.

On Sky News this morning, business secretary Kyle admitted No.10 knew Mandelson and Epstein had “a strong relationship” before Starmer made him ambassador in February.

He said: “We knew that there were risks involved, but his talent led us to believe at the time that the risk was worth it.”

Presenter Trevor Phillips asked him: “The prime minister interrogated Lord Mandelson about the relationship with Epstein himself. This is one of the country’s leading barristers. If he couldn’t have actually got the information from Peter Mandelson before the appointment, who could? Who failed here?”

Kyle said: “There was a lot of information publicly, we knew there was a relationship, we knew the relationship continued after he had been convicted.

“The decision was taken in the national interest to try and use the specific talents that he had, which were singular and outstanding.”

Bizarrely, the business secretary went on to claim that “we only knew what the media knew” about Mandelson’s links to Epstein, despite the Labour peer having to go through so-called “deep vetting” before getting the job.

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Peter Mandelson Confronted By Sky News Reporter Over His Links To Jeffrey Epstein

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Peter Mandelson has been confronted by a Sky News reporter over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Labour peer, who is the UK’s ambassador to the United States, was quizzed by James Matthews after delivering a speech in Washington.

Epstein, the convicted sex offender and financier who died in 2019, allegedly had a “close relationship” with both Mandelson and Prince Andrew, according to an internal JPMorgan report from six years ago.

Asked by Matthews if he had stayed at Epstein’s apartment in Manhattan in June, 2009, Mandelson said: “I’m not answering any questions about him.”

The reporter then said: “He was in jail at the time for soliciting prostitution from a minor.”

Mandelson said: “My knowledge of him is something I regret. I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

Matthews then asked again: “Why did you have an association with him, because he was in jail at the time?”

Walking off, the Labour peer replied: “Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker and I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

In February, Mandelson told Financial Times political editor George Parker to “fuck off” when he asked him about his links to Epstein.

“I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell,” Mandelson said.

She is currently in prison for recruiting and trafficking underaged girls for the financier.

Mandelson also said: “I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.”

However, according to the FT report, “an icy chill” then descended during their conversation, and Mandelson added: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly you can all fuck off. OK?”

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Peter Mandelson To Be Named Britain’s Ambassador To America

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Peter Mandelson is to become the UK’s next ambassador to the United States.

The Labour peer and former cabinet minister is expected to take up the role in the New Year.

He will take over from Dame Karen Pierce, the current ambassador, whose tenure is will come to an end at the start of 2025.

A government source said: “The fact the prime minister has chosen to make a political appointment and send Lord Mandelson to Washington shows just how importantly we see our relationship with the Trump administration.

“We’re sending someone close to the prime minister with unrivalled political and policy experience, particularly on the crucial issue of trade. He’s the ideal candidate to represent the UK’s economic and security interests in the USA.”

Lord Mandelson served in government under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who controversially made him a peer to bring him back into the cabinet as business secretary in 2008.

The former MP for Hartlepool had been the Britain’s European commissioner since 2004.

Last month, the Labour peer told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show last month that he would be “very interested” in giving advice on trade to whoever became the UK’s ambassador to America.

He said: “Can I just make the point if you don’t mind: nobody has spoken to me about this job.

“I read about it in the papers but nobody has actually spoken to me about it, so let’s put it to one side.”

Pushed further on whether he would be interested in the role, the former government minister said: “I would be very interested indeed in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed.”

Lord Mandelson also said last month that the government should consider using Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as a “bridge” to president-elect Trump and Elon Musk.

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Labour Won’t Win Election With ‘Tory Sleaze’ Attacks Alone, Peter Mandelson Warns

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Attacking “Tory sleaze” will not win the next election for Labour alone and Keir Starmer needs to go on the attack against Boris Johnson, Lord Mandelson has said.

The party grandee told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast that while Labour’s local election attacks around “cronyism” and the lobbying scandal will “loosen and crumble” Tory support, it will not be enough to win nationally in 2024.

Starmer must also present a “credible and attractive alternative”, as well as showing Labour is strong enough to “tear [the Tories] inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country”.

Mandelson told Commons People: “One thing is clear to me – it’s that Tory sleaze is not going to win the next election for Labour.

“It will loosen and crumble a lot of support for the Tories and people will reach the conclusion that they are out for themselves and that they suit themselves and they fill the pockets of their own cronies and supporters, that’s true.

“But that doesn’t mean to say that Labour’s just got to sit back and wait for the election to fall into their laps.

“That’s not how you win elections. 

“So fine, make the point, but you’ve got to present a credible and attractive alternative if you want people to vote for you.” 

Speaking from Hartlepool where he is campaigning for Labour ahead of the crunch May 6 by-election, Mandelson said the party had a “real fight” in the seat, where it was “completely outgunned” by the combined Tory and Brexit Party vote in 2019.

Johnson is also benefitting from a “vaccine bounce” in the polls, while voters in Hartlepool felt Labour had “lost its way over the last decade” because it was nationally “rubbish” and “fell into bad hands” locally, and that the party took the town for granted.

“Then along came Brexit which loosened the cement even more, and frankly Corbyn then was the final hammer blow for Labour in this town, and then we had the disastrous results in the election in 2019,” he said. 

GLYN KIRK via Getty Images

Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson 

But now, he said, they feel “Labour is coming home, that there is a new broom, and they feel it nationally with Keir Starmer and I’m glad to say they feel it locally”.

“Increasingly, people are seeing Labour as a credible alternative, they do see Keir Starmer as a man of principles and of integrity.

“But they want to know a lot more about him and what he believes in and what the policies of the Labour Party will be at the next election before they are prepared to transfer their allegiance to him and the Labour Party.

Pointing out that Labour’s leadership has been “hermetically sealed” from the public due to Covid, he said that now the party has to make its case “with greater intensity, and more speed and more focus than we’ve been doing at any time in the last year”.

Asked if Starmer needs to freshen up the shadow cabinet, Mandelson said: “He’ll know what to do when the time comes and I’m not going to start giving him advice or lessons about how he should do his job.

“All I know is this – that people want Labour to make the weather.

“They want Labour to make the news.

“They want the Tories properly taken apart.

“If you fall short, if it’s a bit weak, if it’s a bit flabby, if it appears not to know how to use the media well, if it’s not doing its opposition research well and honing its attacks and creating the ammunition, and [having] people strong enough to fire that ammunition in the Tory direction, then people are going to say well, are Labour strong enough?”

Mandelson went on: “You don’t win elections by going through the motions, you don’t win elections by saying nice things about yourself.

“You’ve got to go for your opponents as well, tear them inside out, strip them down, lay them bare, and see what they stand for and what they are not doing for this country.

“And then people will look to you, and when they do look to you, you better have a credible, affordable set of modern policies for people to vote for.

“And that’s what Labour’s got to create over the next year or so.”

He added: “I want my party to win, I’m fed up of losing, I’m fed up to my back teeth of losing, I want to see my party winning again, and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I work for it.”

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