A meeting was held between Tony Blair and Jeffrey Epstein at Downing Street after Lord Peter Mandelson called the sex offender ‘safe’
Sir Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street after lobbying from Lord Peter Mandelson.
A bombshell memo dated May 14, 2002, from a senior civil servant briefed the then-Prime Minister about the “super-rich” Epstein, described in the note as a financial adviser, before a meeting with him at 5pm that day. The note, written by Matthew Rycroft, came six years before the prolific paedophile pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and became a registered sex offender.
A spokesperson for the former PM confirmed Sir Tony met Epstein for “less than 30 minutes” but never spoke to him again. Shocking emails, seen by the BBC, show Lord Mandelson – who was recently sacked as the UK ambassador to the US for his close relationship with the sex offender – pushed for a meeting between Epstein and Sir Tony.
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Mandelson, in the emails, told Sir Tony’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, that Epstein was “a friend of mine” and claimed former-US President Bill Clinton wanted to introduce the financier to the PM.
Mandelson called Epstein “safe” as well as “young and vibrant”. The message said: “Do you remember when Clinton saw TB [Tony Blair] he said he wanted to introduce his travelling friend, Jeffrey Epstein, to TB? This was frustrated – TB said at the time – in the office for reasons (he says) he was unclear about.
“I think TB would be interested in meeting Jeffrey, who is also a friend of mine, because Jeffrey is an active scientific catalyst/entrepreneur as well as someone who has his finger on the pulse of many worldwide markets and currencies.
“He is young and vibrant. He is safe (whatever that means) and Clinton is now doing a lot of travelling with him.”
A spokesperson for Sir Tony said: “As far as he can remember, Mr Blair met with him for less than 30 minutes in Downing Street in 2002, and discussed US and UK politics. He never met or engaged with him subsequently.This was, of course, long before his crimes were known of and his subsequent conviction.”
Bill Clinton has previously acknowledged he was a former associate of Epstein, but has said he had no knowledge of the financier’s crimes.