Peter Kyle says ‘singular talents’ of Mandelson were balanced against warnings over links with Jeffrey Epstein
Peter Mandelson had “singular talents” which meant his appointment as US ambassador had been seen as “worth the risks” despite warnings in the vetting process over his links with Jeffrey Epstein, the business secretary has said.
The dismissal of Mandelson as ambassador after new revelations about his close contact with the financier after he was convicted of child sex offences has caused fury in the Labour party about the slowness of Number 10’s response, as well as a major headache ahead of the US president Donald Trump’s arrival this week for a state visit.
Peter Kyle denied Downing Street had known the full exchange between Mandelson and the billionaire paedophile which led to his sacking this week – but said that he had transformed the UK-US relationship, which was why he had been given the vital role.
“Global politics had been turned upside down,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme. “The relationship between Britain and America was in a perilous state because of the threat of tariffs, what was happening economically, trying to repurpose and rethink the special relationship.
