"Sir Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street while he was prime minister after a recommendation by Peter Mandelson, newly released papers from the National Archives show. Epstein visited Blair on 14 May 2002, after the suggestion by Lord Mandelson to the prime minister's then chief of staff, Jonathan Powell. Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador in September after new information emerged about how close he was to the convicted sex offender."
"At the time Mandelson was a backbench Labour MP, but still served as a trusted ally to Blair. Just over a year earlier he had resigned from government a second time amid controversy. He had described Epstein to Powell as safe and a friend in an email before the meeting. Powell is now Keir Starmer's national security adviser. His role has been questioned in the collapse of a Chinese spying case."
Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street on 14 May 2002 following a recommendation from Peter Mandelson to Jonathan Powell. Mandelson, then a backbench Labour MP who was later sacked as US ambassador after new information about his closeness to Epstein, described Epstein to Powell as safe and a friend in an email. A civil servant, Matthew Rycroft, briefed that Epstein was a friend of Mandelson, US president Bill Clinton, and close to Prince Andrew. Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008 and died in prison in 2019. The National Archives released the documents after a freedom of information request.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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