Peter Mandelson declines to apologise for association with Jeffrey Epstein | Peter Mandelson

Peter Mandelson has refused to apologize to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for continuing his friendship with the pedophile financier after his conviction, but said he was sorry for the “system” that meant Epstein’s victims were ignored.

His Labor colleague, who was sacked as US ambassador in September after details of his support for Epstein emerged, told the BBC on Sunday that his relationship with the “evil monster” had taken a “catastrophic” price.

Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was known from the time Keir Starmer appointed his peer as US ambassador. But he was removed from his diplomatic post after No 10 said he was unaware of emails from Mandelson to Epstein suggesting the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a child into prostitution was unfair and should be appealed.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 and served time in prison, but Mandelson said she believed his excuses and continued to support him out of “misplaced loyalty” and “a very egregious mistake on my part.”

In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, the colleague sought to distance herself from Epstein, saying she was “on the edge of this man’s life” despite “toe-curlingly embarrassing” emails showing his support and a birthday message describing him as a best friend.

The interview was Mandelson’s first on-air appearance since he was removed from his diplomatic post in Washington in September last year.

“When I was with him, when I was at his home, I saw nothing in his life that gave me any reason to suspect what this evil monster was doing preying on these young women,” Mandelson said.

He added: “I think the problem was that because I was a gay man around her, I was being singled out from what she was doing on the sexual side of her life.”

Asked if he wanted to apologise, Lord Mandelson said: “I would like to apologize to these women for the system that refused to hear their voices and failed to provide them with the protection they were entitled to expect.”

Asked whether she would apologize for her friendship with Epstein following his conviction, her colleague and former business secretary said: “If I had known, if I had been complicit or guilty in any way, I would of course have apologized… but I was not guilty, I had no knowledge of what he did, and I regret, and will regret until the day I die, the fact that powerless women were not given the protection they were entitled to expect.”

When asked if he deserved to be dismissed, he said: “I understand why I was dismissed.”

He added: “I understand why [Starmer] He made the decision he did. But one thing I am very clear about is that I will not try to reopen this issue or re-litigate. “I continue.”

In one of the emails published in September, Mandelson wrote to Epstein after his conviction: “I think your world and I are despondent and angry about what has happened. I can still barely understand it. This cannot happen in Britain. You need to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be as philosophical about it as you can.”

He continued: “Anything can be turned into an opportunity, and you’ll get through it and be stronger for it.”

The friendship between the two men was revived after Democratic members of the US House Oversight Committee published Epstein’s 50th “birthday book.” In this book, Mandelson called him “my best friend” in a handwritten note.