Revealed: Jeffrey Epstein's direct line to Downing St
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party following further revelations about his friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The access Epstein had to the British government marks a serious breach and existential questions for the Labour Party.
Oli Dugmore is joined by Rachel Cunliffe.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:06.3 | Peter Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party following further revelations about his |
| 0:10.8 | friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. On Friday, the latest release of files by the |
| 0:15.5 | US Department of Justice suggested Epstein made $75,000 in payments to Lord Mandelson between 2003 and 2004. |
| 0:23.6 | A photograph was also released of him wearing nothing but a t-shirt and underpants, |
| 0:27.7 | next to a woman in a dressing gown. |
| 0:29.7 | And just this morning, it emerged that Mandelson leaked confidential Downing Street documents to Geoffrey Epstein |
| 0:34.3 | when he was business secretary. |
| 0:36.0 | He resigned from the Labour Party yesterday, saying he does not want to, quote, cause further embarrassment. Is it a little late for that? I'm Olly Dougmore, and you're listening to Daily Politics from The New Statesman. Joining me today is Rachel Cunleff. Hello, Rachel. Hello, what a story. What a day. What a story. It's extraordinary, isn't it? I mean, just bring us up to speed quickly, Rachel. |
| 0:55.7 | What do we know about Mandelson and Epstein's relationship? What led to his firing? Talk us through it. |
| 1:02.1 | Jeffrey Epstein, a millionaire sex trafficker, essentially. And Peter Mandelson's relationship with Epstein has been well known since the early |
| 1:14.9 | 2000s and was well known while he was an MP, while he was business secretary and Gordon Brown's |
| 1:21.7 | government while he was out in the wilderness during the Tory years and then when Kirstalma decided |
| 1:26.3 | to bring him back as US ambassador in the summer of 2024. So their friendship was very well known. Obviously, |
| 1:34.6 | the allegations against Jeffrey Epstein, he was convicted of child prostitution in 2009. And then in |
| 1:42.0 | 2019, all the rest of the stuff came out. |
| 1:46.0 | And Mandelson went, I didn't know about any of that. It's all fine. He didn't tell me. I'm so sorry. |
| 1:51.8 | And got this government job. And then in September 2025, the era when it all seemed to be falling apart for the government, new emails were revealed |
| 2:01.6 | that showed that he had continued a friendship with him after his conviction in 2009, and that |
| 2:08.2 | was what had led to him having to resign. What we're getting now is completely different. |
| 2:14.4 | It's not to do with his friendship. It's not to do with his judgment. And was it a good idea for him to be friends with a paedophile sex trafficker? |
| 2:21.8 | It's to do with sharing sensitive government information at the time when he, Peter |
... |
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