Incoming UK ambassador walks back prior comments on Trump
Lord Peter Mandelson, the incoming UK ambassador to the US, has walked back prior comments he made suggesting that President Donald Trump was a ‘danger to the world’ in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, saying he was ‘ill-judged and wrong.
London’s new ambassador to Washington, D.C., had an R-rated response to a reporter who asked about his former ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the suspected sex trafficker who died in jail in 2019.
Peter Mandelson, a Labour Party politician and member of the UK’s House of Lords, reportedly told an interviewer from the Financial Times to “f— off” after being questioned about his introduction to Epstein through Epstein’s former lover, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell,” he told the outlet during a conversation aboard a high-speed train in the U.K.Â
“I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.”
Mandelson also listed adversarial China as a place where the U.S. and his country could find common ground in his interview with Fox News Digital.
“I think that the United States and Britain, working together, can outsmart and keep ahead of the curve as far as China is concerned,” the incoming ambassador said. “[Trump] wants a dialogue with China, he wants to do deals with China. But he’s also not going to be naive about China.Â
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs documents in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington Feb. 4, 2025. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo)
The Times of London reported last week that Andrew, brother of King Charles III, remained in touch with Epstein until at least 2011, two months after he previously claimed to have cut off ties, when he allegedly wrote, “Keep in close touch, and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”Â
Additional emails revealed in a London court show Mandelson’s alleged correspondence with the sex-trafficking financier continued into the summer of 2012.
He is also mentioned in an alleged conversation between Epstein and former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, who stepped down in 2021 over his ties to the disgraced financier.
“Peter Mandelson here at 5 — staying a couple of days,” an alleged email from Epstein to Staley says.Â
“If I get back in time, I will swing by,” the reply said..
Mandelson allegedly stayed on Epstein’s New York City property at least twice, in 2009 and 2012, according to the report.
Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
