'Tone Deaf': Mandelson Slammed As He Plays The Victim In New Interview

Peter Mandelson has been dubbed “tone deaf” after he tried to portray himself as a victim in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

In his first interview since previously-secret documents appeared to show him sending highly-sensitive government information to the paedophile financier, the peer said there was no evidence of “wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part”.

His comments to The Times came after he was forced to quit the Labour Party and amid calls from No.10 that he be kicked out of the House of Lords and stripped of his peerage.

Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington after it emerged he had maintained contact with his “best pal” Epstein even after the billionaire had been convicted of soliciting a child for prostitution.

A fresh batch of documents relating to Epstein released last week suggest Mandelson was passing on information to him when he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government between 2008 and 2010.

That included a pledge to lobby ministers about possibly watering down the bankers’ bonus tax, and confirmation of an imminent bailout for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.

The documents also show him in his underpants speaking to a woman in what is believed to be one of Epstein’s properties.

Elsewhere in the files released by the US Department of Justice, bank statements appear to show Mandelson received $75,000 in three separate payments from Epstein in 2003 and 2004. 

He told The Times he had no recollection of receiving the money, and bemoaned the fact that the scandal had led to him losing his job as UK ambassador after just seven months.

“It was like a 5.30am drive-by shooting,” he said. “I was at the edge of something. Suddenly, I was put at the centre of it — as a result of historical emails of which I have no memory and no record.”

Appearing to downplay to significance of the row that brought him down, Mandelson said: “Hiding under a rock would be a disproportionate response to a handful of misguided historical emails, which I deeply regret sending.

“If it hadn’t been for the emails, I’d still be in Washington. Emails sent all those years ago didn’t change the relationship that I had with this monster.

“I feel the same about the recent download of Epstein files, none of which indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part.”

Remarkably, the New Labour grandee also suggested that he still has a future in British political life.

He said: “I want to contribute ideas that enable Britain to strengthen and to work for all, in every part of the country.”

And on calls for him to speak to the US authorities about what he knew about Epstein’s behaviour, he said: “There is nothing I can tell Congress about Epstein they don’t already know. I had no exposure to the criminal aspects of his life.”

The interview drew an immediate backlash online.