Former British ambassador to the United States Lord Peter Mandelson is under fire after newly unearthed emails revealed he worked behind the scenes to support child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as U.S. authorities closed in on him.
The cache of messages, obtained by Bloomberg, shows the socialist Labour Party power broker, once dubbed the “Prince of Darkness,” acting as a confidant to Epstein while serving as EU Trade Commissioner, even as the disgraced financier faced charges for abusing minors.
In one 2006 email, Mandelson wrote Epstein: “What’s cooking? Here whenever you need.”
Later, on the eve of Epstein reporting to prison in 2008, Mandelson told his “best pal,” “I think the world of you… You must fight for early release.”
The revelations paint a damning picture of Mandelson coaching Epstein through his legal troubles, with Epstein even asking whether the commissioner could help secure a pardon from Florida’s governor.
On Thursday morning, after the emails emerged, Mandelson was fired as the U.K.’s U.S. ambassador over the revelations about his relationship with Epstein.
The correspondence follows years of speculation about Mandelson’s closeness to Epstein.
Photos show the Labour peer in a white dressing gown at Epstein’s Caribbean island estate, dubbed “Pedophile Island” by