Home Office minister Mike Tapp said hearing an email from Peter Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein made him ‘shudder’ as Keir Starmer faces a growing Labour rebellion
A Labour minister said emails reportedly sent by Peter Mandelson to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein made him “shudder”.
Mike Tapp made the comment after being read a message – which said “I think the world of you” – during an interview with the BBC’s Charlie Stayt. Keir Starmer faces a Labour rebellion as pressure mounts on him to sack the Ambassador to the US.
And a backbench MP said there is no “glimmer of support” for the diplomat – who only took up his role in February – in the Labour Party. Andy McDonald said if Lord Mandelson does not quit today, the PM must fire him.
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Mr Starmer defended Lord Mandelson in the Commons at PMQs on Wednesday. Since then new emails have surfaced, including one reportedly sent while Epstein faced child sex charges, saying: “I think the world of you.”
The message, sent in 2008, also said Lord Mandelson felt “hopeless and furious” and urged him to fight for early release. After it was read to him by the BBC’s Charlie Stayt, Mr Tapp said: “I don’t know if you saw me shudder then, there’s a reason for that.”
He said: “I find it disturbing, those sorts of emails in honesty… we have to just look at what Peter Mandelson saying around his regret and what he knew at the time.” But he said the Ambassador would remain in place “as far as I know”.
In the email, sent as Epstein was charged for procuring a child for prostitution, the Labour peer said: “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened. I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain.
“You have to be incredibly resilient. Fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can. Everything can be turned into an opportunity that you will come through and be stronger for it.”
Mr Starmer faces a fresh crisis as calls grow for Lord Mandelson to be sacked. Labour backbencher Andy McDonald said: “He should go immediately. His position is completely and utterly untenable.”
And he continued: “I’m afraid if he if he doesn’t, do the right thing, and resign today, then the Prime Minister should sack him.”
He continued: “I haven’t spoken to anybody who is offering any glimmer of support for Peter Mandelson. There is widespread revulsion that we by association, being in the same party, are being brought under the microscope for something that he has done.
“He’s got to take responsibility for his actions and bring this to a close. There isn’t anybody in the Labor Party who is supporting Peter Mandelson today, and the Prime Minister has got to hear that and understand it will weaken his position if he continues to support it. And I will not defend the indefensible.”
And left-winger Kim Johnson said it brought the PM’s judgement into question, stating: “The fact is this was known before he was given this position.” She told Good Morning Britain it was “a bad reflection on the Prime Minister’s judgement”.
And Labour MP Nadia Whittome wrote: “It has long been known that Mandelson remained close to Epstein even after he was convicted of sex offences.
“He shouldn’t have been appointed in the first place, and it is very clear that the Prime Minister must sack him immediately. We either stand with victims or we don’t.”
Lord Mandelson told The Sun he regretted “very, very deeply indeed carrying on” his association with the financier “for far longer than I should have done”. When asked whether he had continued a business or personal relationship with Epstein after he was charged with criminal offences, Lord Mandelson did not deny he maintained a form of relationship with him – responding: “It was not a business relationship.”
He said he “never saw the wrongdoing” or “evidence of criminal activity”, adding he does not believe he is “named in the Epstein files”. Lord Mandelson described the words he used in his birthday message as “very embarrassing to see and read”.
And in a statement to the BBC he said: “I relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false.”
US lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents more than 20 survivors of Epstein, said Lord Mandelson should voluntarily sit for questioning by investigators.
In an interview with Times Radio, Ms Allred said: “If he wants to get serious about this, if he wants to help the survivors, he should sit and allow himself to be questioned. If he has nothing to worry about, why not?
“What can he do to help the survivors? Is he willing to do it? If not, he should resign. It’s deeds, not words that are important.”
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