Peter Mandelson breaks cover for first time since Epstein scandal broke as news emerges of ‘ghost flight’ to see Putin and calls grow for him to testify to US Congress
Lord Peter Mandelson has been seen for the first time since the latest scandal over his long-standing friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former British ambassador to the United States was photographed with a dog on her lap outside her London home at lunchtime on Saturday.
This sighting came just hours after he received a letter formally requesting that he participate in an interview to help “reveal the identities of Mr. Epstein’s associates and supporters.”
They noted that Mandelson called Epstein his ‘best friend’ and that payments of at least $75,000 (£55,000) were sent to him, according to bank statements.
Meanwhile, an investigation by the Daily Mail revealed today that the former great leader of the Labor Party made ‘ghost flights’ to a summit with Vladimir Putin on the Russian oligarch’s private jet while he was the EU trade commissioner.
He accepted luxury flights on a Gulfstream jet controlled by aluminum billionaire Oleg Deripaska, one of the Kremlin dictator’s favorite businessmen.
The EU then reduced tariffs on aluminium, much to the delight of Mr Deripaska, who became one of the ten richest men in the world. The European Commission has previously insisted there was ‘no political interference’ by Lord Mandelson in this decision.
The revelations cap a fortnight for Lord Mandelson, whose links to Epstein led to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to step down as Prime Minister.
Critics have questioned the Prime Minister’s decision to appoint him ambassador to the US, considered the most prestigious post in British diplomacy.
Former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson walks out his front door with a large dog
The former British ambassador to the United States was spotted outside his home in London at lunch on Saturday.
Peter Mandelson with Jeffrey Epstein in one of the recently published photos
This appearance occurred just hours after he received a letter formally requesting that he participate in an interview to help “reveal the identities of Mr. Epstein’s collaborators and supporters.”
The letter to Lord Mandelson, signed by Representatives Robert Garcia and Suhas Subramanyam, said: ‘Whilst you are no longer serving as British Ambassador to the United States and have resigned from the House of Lords, it is clear that you have extensive social and business links with Jeffrey Epstein and have critical information relevant to our investigation into Epstein’s operations.
‘Given the appalling allegations about Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself available for a written interview with Committee staff regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices.’
He added: ‘A wealth of evidence has come to light showing your close ties to Jeffrey Epstein over many years.
‘For example, in a handwritten note included in Epstein’s 50th Birthday Book in 2003, you referred to Epstein as your “best friend” and praised him as a “smart, sharp-witted man.”
‘In bank records obtained by the committee, Epstein transferred sizable sums of money to you, including payments totaling more than $75,000 between 2003 and 2004.’
Last week, Scotland Yard launched an investigation into claims that Mandelson passed confidential information of the British government to financier Epstein.
Officers raided his £12 million home in London and the farmhouse he was renting in Wiltshire and were seen bringing cardboard boxes from their car to collect evidence.
Picture: Supplies being delivered to Peter Mandelson’s home on Saturday
An image shows the letter to Lord Mandelson asking him to testify before Congress
Peter Mandelson accepted luxury flights on a Gulfstream jet controlled by aluminum billionaire Oleg Deripaska, one of the Kremlin strongman’s favorite businessmen.
Gulfstream IV that took Mandelson to the Netherlands in 2004
Now the Daily Mail can reveal shocking details of the private jet flights on which a ‘flustered’ Mandelson met Putin at a key trade summit in The Hague on November 25, 2004.
The EU confirmed it did not advertise flights as it should have done.
They were going from Brussels to Luton, then from Luton to Rotterdam.
The Daily Mail spoke to a member of the flight crew who said Mandelson was “pretty fussy” because he wanted to get there faster.
At the time, Mandelson was on friendly terms with some of Putin’s inner circle.
In 2005, he had a private, unofficial and undisclosed dinner with Russia’s finance minister, arranged by Deripaska, and flew 2,000 miles to Siberia, where he stayed at the aluminum oligarch’s dacha before being whipped in a traditional Russian ‘banya’, or sauna.
Last night Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch demanded an investigation into ‘disturbing new revelations’, while shadow minister Alicia Kearns said Mandelson ‘smells like a man who has complete contempt for the British people’.
Ms Badenoch said: ‘As Keir Starmer flies to the Munich Security Conference to lecture us about the Russian threat, these disturbing new revelations reinforce the recklessness of his decision to hand over Britain’s most vital security relationship to Peter Mandelson, who now faces serious questions over his dealings with Kremlin-linked oligarchs.
‘The intelligence and security committee should be provided with all relevant material relating to Mandelson’s time as EU trade commissioner.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Kremlin strongman Oleg Deripaska (right) in Sochi in 2008
Peter Mandelson (second from left) with Putin and EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso in The Hague, Netherlands
Miss Kearns, the shadow home secretary, said: ‘Funny how tariffs can melt away faster than scrap in a smelter after a few flights on an aluminum magnate’s private jet. First Epstein, then the Chinese Communist Party, now Putin; Mandelson’s black book knows no boundaries.
‘Mandelson reeks of a man who has complete disdain for the British people.
‘He thought he could get away with giving secret government information to his friends, he thought he could get away with snuggling up to a pedophile and, until the Mail’s revelations today, he thought he could get away with betraying the EU to Putin’s favorite oligarch.
‘There’s still a movie to tell all this: License To Shill.’
Former prime minister Gordon Brown said Mandelson’s email communication with Epstein could constitute a ‘crime’.
When the Daily Mail put the latest comments to Mandelson, he said he had ‘no recollection’ of travel arrangements going back so long ago but that they were ‘made by his office at the Commission’.
