PETER Mandelson has suggested Jeffrey Epstein may have been murdered.
The US government insists that the paedo banker was found hanged in his New York jail cell in 2019, but the US Ambassador said he did not know “whether he was murdered or whether it was a suicide.”
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Persistent conspiracy theories suggest the controversial financier was silenced before blowing the whistle on a powerful ring of sex offenders.
His former friend Lord Mandelson was asked on a world exclusive interview on Harry Cole Saves The West if he had “any reason to believe that Epstein’s death was anything other than suicide?”
He replied: “I honestly have not the faintest idea how he died, whether he was murdered or whether it was a suicide.
“All I know is that, with all the information that we have about this dreadful, dreadful man.
“I wish that I could remove that lot. I think he is like, he’s like a piece of muck attached to my shoes, which I find it very difficult to kick away.
“But I will do it. I will do it, but I can only do it by first of all acknowledging how much I regret ever having met him in the first place, and how much I regret deeply continuing association with him”
In July the Trump administration confirmed initial findings that Epstein had taken his own life, saying: “After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019.”
The FBI had re-examined the case after pressure from Donald Trump supporters to publish millions of Epstein Files held by investigators.
They included his fabled “black book” of powerful contacts to whom it was claimed he pimped young women out.
But following a review of the files, President Trump insisted the theory was a “hoax” sparking a major rift amongst his support base.
Last night, there were growing demands for Mandelson to resign or be fired as the UK’s Ambassador to Washington.
Damaging new questions were also raised about the judgment of PM Sir Keir Starmer, who selected him for the plum post despite knowing about his friendship with paedo Epstein.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Mandelson’s position was “untenable”.
She said: “These are sickening revelations. Why did Starmer defend him today? How was ‘full due process followed’?
“This a weak Prime Minister, leading a Government mired in scandal. The public deserves better. Peter Mandelson needs to be fired now.”
The Labour peer warned fresh embarrassing correspondence with his former friend were set to emerge
Mandelson also issued a grovelling apology for remaining close with the disgraced banker for years after his sex convictions.
Despite the growing row, Sir Keir gave his full backing to the embattled diplomat at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The PM insisted “due process was followed” during the appointment of the Labour grandee to the key role amid growing calls for him to be sacked.
In a string of leaked messages circulating Washington DC, Mr Mandelson wrote: “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.
The email sent between the pair’s private email addresses, continued: “everything can be turned into an opportunity and that you will come through it and be stronger for it.
“The whole thing has been years of torture and now you have to show the world how big a person you are, and how strong.”
A separate email showed Mr Mandelson offering strategic advice, quoting ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu “Reminder. You are fighting back so you need strategy, strategy, strategy. Remember the Art of War.”
Lord Mandelson did not dispute the veracity of the messages, but reiterated his apology first given in a bombshell interview on Harry Cole Saves the West.
Battling a growing backlash over his links to the disgraced banker, who died in a New York jail in 2019, Lord Mandelson said: “I hope that I’m doing a good enough job as Ambassador here in the United States to continue.”
But he admitted for the first time to remaining close to Epstein “for far longer than I should have done.”
Britain’s top man in Washington branded it an “albatross around his neck” as he pleaded his “deep regret” at remaining in contact for “many years” with the paedophile financier even after was convicted for underage sex crimes in 2008.
And he suggested that because he is gay he may have seen a different side to the predator who died in a New York jail in 2019 under a cloud of sex trafficking allegations involving teenage girls.
The explosive interview came after the UK’s most senior diplomat in America was revealed to have sent the late banker a gushing 10 page letter in 2003 where he declared his love for his “best pal”.
Speaking exclusively to Harry Cole, the Labour Peer insisted: “I feel a tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffer as a result of his behavior and his illegal criminal activities.
“And secondly, I regret very, very deeply indeed, carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done,” he added.
Arguing he had been “conned”, Lord Mandelson said: “I regret very much that I fell for his lies, I fell for and accepted assurances that he had given me about his indictment, his original criminal case in Florida, like very many people, I took at face value what he said with hindsight, with fresh information, many years later, we realized that we had been wrong to believe in is a charismatic criminal liar.”
Battling to save his job following the humiliating revelations, Lord Mandelson pleaded that he had never seen any “wrongdoing” throughout his long friendship with Epstein including trips on his private jet and stays on his infamous Caribbean crime scene.
He suggested that “perhaps it is because I am a gay man” that he was blindsided to the predator’s actions.
Lord Mandelson told the show: “All the time I was an associate of his, I never saw the wrongdoing.
“I never saw any evidence of criminal activity. I never sought and nor did he offer any introductions to women in the way that allegedly he did for others.
“Perhaps it’s because I’m a gay man, perhaps when I knew him in all those years, perhaps when I was associated with him those years ago, as I did with my then partner and now husband, we never, ever saw any evidence or sign of this activity, which has since come to light.”
In a worrying development for No10, Labour MPs broke ranks demanding the party grandee be removed from post .
The row also risks overshadowing next week’s State Visit to the UK by US President Donald Trump where he is expected to attend, including the showpiece Windsor Castle banquet.
Sir Keir was called upon by the Tories to release a dossier completed during the vetting process for the Washington DC job.
When asked whether he should stay in post, Labour MP and wannabe deputy leader candidate Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “No… I think that’s going to disturb quite a few people.”
She added that Number 10 should launch an immediate probe. She said: “There should definitely be an investigation into it because there will be a huge amount of concern and if the outcome is that he should resign, he should.”
Labour colleague Kim Johnson questioned how he is serving in post. She said: “The fact is this was known before he was given this position.”
She added: “As much as he says on radio that he regrets it, the fact is that he called him his ‘best pal’ in his birthday card, he made money from him.
“This suggests to me a very strong relationship because who sends cards with those comments on? He should never have got it in the first place.”
Sir Keir was probed at PMQs by Tory leader Ms Badenoch who asked him whether he had “full confidence” in his ambassador.
Sir Keir replied: “The ambassador has repeatedly expressed his deep regret for his association with him. He is right to do so.
“I have confidence in him, and he is playing an important role in the UK-US relationship.”
Ms Badenoch said that the support for his senior ambassador was a “disgrace” and said the government was “mired in scandal”.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey also questioned what other “compromising material” the Trump administration might have on him.
Top lawyer Gloria Allred said Mandelson must volunteer to speak at Congressional hearings on Epstein or quit his ambassador job.
Ms Allred, who represents 27 of Epstein’s victims, insists that he can’t follow the lead of Prince Andrew by keeping quiet on the matter.
Speaking to LBC Radio’s Andrew Marr, Allred said: “If he doesn’t reach out, if he doesn’t volunteer to say what he knows, then I think he should resign.”Because maybe it was fun and games for him on that boat, we saw him on smiling and happy in the sunshine in the water.
“It wasn’t that happy day, happy vacation time for many of the victims. So, I believe in the saying deeds, not words. I’d like to see what he’s willing to do. If he just wants to remain silent, that’s not enough, he should resign.”
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