PETER Mandelson is facing fresh calls to be stripped of his peerage after it emerged his husband was given thousands of pounds by Jeffrey Epstein.
As more details of his friendship with the paedophile emerged, SNP MP Stephen Flynn said of the Labour peer: “Mandelson should be nowhere near Parliament, let alone still sitting as a Labour Lord.”
The latest Epstein Files show Mandelson’s then partner and now husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva messaged Epstein in 2009 asking for £10,000 for an osteopathy course.
It was a month after Epstein, who agreed to send money, was released from prison for child prostitution offences.
Mandelson was fired as US ambassador last year over his Epstein links.
A Lord can only be stripped of their peerage by an Act of Parliament.
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Mandelson said: “I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards.
“I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.
“I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes.
“Like everyone else I learned the actual truth about him after his death.
“But his victims did know what he was doing, their voices were not heard.
“I am sorry I was amongst those who believed him over them.”
