Britain's Prime Minister apologises to Epstein victims
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the victims of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying he is 'sorry for having believed' his former US ambassador Peter Mandelson. Emails released in the US suggest Mandelson forwarded market-sensitive information to Epstein. The prime minister accused Mandelson of lying during the vetting process, saying he gave the impression he 'barely knew' the disgraced financier.
Also in the programme: The second day of peace talks over the Russia-Ukraine war conclude with no sign of agreement; and a sketch of a lion by the Dutch grand master Rembrandt has sold at auction for $18 million.
(Picture: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking during a visit to East Sussex. Credit: Peter Nicholls/PA Wire)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.5 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service, coming to you live from London. |
| 0:15.3 | I'm Leila Naffu. |
| 0:17.1 | The reverberations from the release by the US Department of Justice of millions of files relating to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been felt across the world. |
| 0:27.8 | But the fallout from the latest tranche of documents published have triggered a political scandal here in Britain that has engulfed the Prime Minister Kirstama and could yet unseat him. It centres |
| 0:39.1 | around Britain's former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, a veteran politician of the |
| 0:44.4 | governing Labour Party who took on the job a little over a year ago. He was no stranger to |
| 0:49.9 | controversy, but the hope in government was that he had a particular skill set to help the UK |
| 0:55.2 | navigate President Trump's White House. But his long-standing friendship with Geoffrey Epstein, |
| 1:01.0 | which was known at the time, proved to be his undoing. He was sacked last September |
| 1:06.5 | after further details of the depth of their relationship came to light. But the latest revelations |
| 1:12.1 | are altogether more serious. Among them, emails which appear to suggest he forwarded on market |
| 1:18.1 | sensitive information to Epstein when he was serving in government in 2009. This has prompted |
| 1:24.2 | a police investigation. Now Kirstama is under growing pressure to justify appointing Peter Mandelson in the first place. |
| 1:32.5 | Speaking at an event this morning in the south of England, Mr Starrma said he regretted his decision. |
| 1:38.6 | Mandelson was asked directly about the nature of his relationship with Epstein, about whether he had been fully transparent about the relationship. |
| 1:51.1 | The information now available makes clear that the answers he gave were lies. |
| 1:59.0 | He portrayed Epstein as someone he barely knew. And when that became clear, |
| 2:05.7 | and it was not true, I sacked him. Such deceit is incompatible with public service. |
| 2:16.6 | Kirstama also said that he shared the anger people felt |
| 2:19.7 | when those in positions of power escaped scrutiny. |
| 2:23.2 | The victims of Epstein have lived with trauma |
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