Lord Mandelson joined forces with a mysterious ‘Mr Big’ to fight for child predator Jeffrey Epstein as the FBI closed in, devastating new emails suggest.
The Labour grandee appears to have plotted behind the scenes with his paedophile ‘best pal’ to save him from looming charges of molesting teenagers.
In a fresh cache of damning messages, the now former British ambassador to Washington wrote to Epstein in 2006: ‘What’s cooking?’ after Florida police decided to charge him with unlawful sexual activity with a minor and ‘lewd and lascivious’ molestation.
Mandelson – at the time Britain’s EU Commissioner on a taxpayer-funded £200,000 salary – breezily added: ‘Here whenever you need.’
The latest emails, obtained by Bloomberg News, reveal that Mandelson’s jaw-dropping ‘I think the world of you… you must fight for early release‘ email, was sent to the convicted paedophile on the day before he reported to prison to start his 18-month sentence as part of a controversial plea deal.
Pressure grew on Mandelson on Wednesday, when he gave an interview to the Harry Cole Saves The West podcast saying further ‘very embarrassing’ emails had yet to be made public.
Hours later, such messages were published by The Sun, which showed the peer telling Epstein: ‘I think the world of you.’
Epstein also seemed to think his British friend could wield his power to fix him a pardon. From prison, he emailed Mandelson – or ‘Petie’ as he affectionately called him – to ask if he had met Florida’s governor who was visiting Europe and ‘would be instrumental’.
Lord Mandelson (pictured) joined forces with a mysterious ‘Mr Big’ to fight for child predator Jeffrey Epstein as the FBI closed in, devastating new emails suggest
The creepy holiday snap that triggered his downfall: Lord Mandelson in a fluffy white dressing gown enjoying a chat with ‘best pal’ Epstein
Another email appears to show Epstein offering to pay for Mandelson to fly to the Caribbean on a Christmas trip in 2005 where an infamous boutique photo of Mandelson trying on a white belt was snapped – after the EU Commissioner had complained about not having enough BA airmiles to cover the journey.
‘Mr Big’ and the Prince of Darkness
In a cryptic email exchange in the Bloomberg cache, Epstein referred to a ‘Mr Big’. As he faced a criminal investigation, he messaged Mandelson: ‘Peter, Mr Big has a meeting Thursday . . . I need your guy to remind him . . .’
This was in January 2008, and the FBI had been pursuing a sex-trafficking probe which led to agents discovering more than 30 potential under-age victims.
Prosecutors were in talks with Epstein’s lawyers about a ‘plea deal’ in which he would plead guilty to a lesser crime of soliciting under-age sex in return for the FBI inquiry being shelved.
At the start of 2008, Mandelson told his financier friend of a discussion he had had with an unnamed contact whom he believed could help him with his legal difficulties.
In a message on January 7, Mandelson wrote that his contact had told him: ‘I will really go for it on your friend now that his case is a bit more realistically salvageable.’
A week later, Epstein told Mandelson: ‘Peter, Mr Big has a meeting Thursday with Lefky’.
Lekfy is believed to be Jay Lefkowitz, who was one of Epstein’s defence lawyers. ‘Lefky is the way Mr Big refers to him,’ Epstein explained, and he asked Mandelson: ‘I need your guy to remind him one time before the meeting . . . then we are done.’
Mandelson replied: ‘I will get a message. He is travelling at moment.’ Bloomberg’s email cache does not reveal the identities of either ‘Mr Big’ or ‘your guy’.
Starmer sacked Mandelson following the sickening emails (the PM pictured with Lord Mandelson in February)
Love note on the eve of jail time
Mandelson has repeatedly expressed his ‘profound regret’ at meeting Epstein, and has played down their friendship. When the Daily Mail delved into their relationship in 2019, it was claimed the pair had only met on ‘no more than five or six occasions’.
This week’s bombshell revelations exploded these claims, starting on Monday when excruciating photos were made public by American lawmakers.
In one, a grinning Mandelson was seen wearing a fluffy white dressing gown chatting to Epstein and saying he was ‘my best pal’.
On Wednesday afternoon – shortly after Sir Keir Starmer assured the Commons he had ‘full confidence’ in his ambassador – even more grotesque material came to light.
A career-ending trove of emails obtained by The Sun appeared to expose just how deeply involved Mandelson was in helping his friend as he faced the paedophile allegations.
On the day before he went to jail for preying on children, in July 2008, Mandelson emailed him: ‘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 and that you will come through it and be stronger for it. Your friends stay with you and love you.’
Lord Mandelson, who was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer as Britain’s ambassador to the US, is pictured here with Donald Trump in the Oval Office in May 2025
‘What’s cooking? I’m here when you need’
Then overnight, further damning emails were made public by Bloomberg.
One exchange was from May 2006, when Florida police had filed an affidavit saying Epstein should be charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor and ‘lewd and lascivious molestation’ with victims as young as 14.
An email from Mandelson to his American friend read: ‘What’s cooking? I am in London (public holiday) heading back to BXL [Brussels] in a few hours. P.’
He added: ‘I am following you closely and here whenever you need.’ A month later, he wrote again to Epstein saying: ‘Worried that I haven’t heard from you. Are you seeing them off and winning?’
The possibility of a pardon
Just days after Epstein was convicted of being a child sex predator, he seemed to think his powerful ‘best pal’ in Brussels could swing him a pardon.
From a prison computer, Epstein emailed the EU’s Trade Commissioner with a ruse to get him freed.
The July 2008 email suggested Mandelson speak to Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, who was visiting Europe and who could be ‘instrumental’ because Epstein was in a Florida prison.
Epstein, whose emails were replete with spelling and grammatical errors, wrote: ‘Did you come across Governor crist,, from florida,, he is europe on a trade mission. He would be instrumental in a pardon, as i pled guilty to a STATE offence. how are you,, tell me more.’
Lord Mandelson with Jeffrey Epstein on December 12, 2005, where he is seen trying on a belt during a visit to a boutique in the Caribbean
Bloomberg, which obtained the email, contacted Mr Crist who said that he had no recollection of hearing from Mandelson about Epstein. He added he did not even know who Mandelson was.
Epstein also apparently tried to rope in Gordon Brown, referring to the then prime minister as ‘your boy’ in a message to Mandelson about the PM meeting President George W. Bush in Washington.
He wrote: ‘Your boy is meeting tomoorw with B [Bush]. IF he gets a chance he could remind josh bolton.’ Josh Bolten was Bush’s chief of staff. It is not known what Epstein wanted Mr Brown to ‘remind’ President Bush of. Mr Bolten said he had ‘no recollection’.
Airmiles Mandy and offer of flights
Mandelson apparently complained about a lack of BA airmiles – and Epstein offered to pay for his Caribbean flight.
These emails were sent in October 2005. It was Christmas that year when the famous photo was snapped of the pair shopping together in a fancy boutique on the island of St Barts, with Lord Mandelson wearing a £21,000 Patek Philippe watch and trying on a white belt.
The photo was first published by the Daily Mail in 2019, with few of the circumstances known at the time.
That October, Mandelson wrote to Epstein, whose Caribbean hideaway Little St James has since been dubbed ‘paedo island’ because of teenage girls abused there: ‘When are you going to the island at Xmas? I am having trouble getting air tickets to St Barts and was wondering about going via US, NY or Miami (but this may also be difficult because of availability of BA airmiles). What are your plans and do I fit in to them? X’
Epstein replied that he would be going there in December and added: ‘I can pay for your tickets if needed.’
The Bloomberg emails cache does not reveal whether or not Mandelson had any help paying for his tickets.
Mandelson and a friend enjoy a boat ride together as guests of Epstein
Worried about the ‘terrible situation’
Mandelson confided in Epstein that he was facing a ‘terrible situation’ in his private life, without elaborating, and pleaded for his loyalty.
The email suggests the peer was mired in a predicament in October 2006, at a time when he was EU Commissioner.
Later that day he emailed Epstein to thank him for calling. ‘Please stick with me through this. x,’ Mandelson wrote. ‘Of course,’ Epstein replied.
Mandelson has said he profoundly regrets ever meeting Epstein and that ‘I regret very much that I fell for his lies’, adding: ‘I fell and accepted assurances he had given me about his indictment his original criminal case in Florida.
‘Like many, many people, I took at face value what he said. With hindsight, with fresh information many years later, we realised we were wrong to believe him. He is a charismatic criminal liar, we now see.’
In a statement to the BBC he added: ‘I relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false.’
He has not disputed the contents of any of the emails.
