Mandelson still a human being who’s entitled to fair trial, says Cherie Blair | UK news
Cherie Blair said in an interview that those who criticize Peter Mandelson should remember that he is “still a human being.”
Blair added that the former Labor Secretary “has the right to a fair trial” after he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. He denies any wrongdoing and has been released under investigation.
Lord Mandelson, along with Blair’s husband and former prime minister Tony, was one of the driving forces behind New Labor and served in various government roles.
He was removed from his post as Britain’s ambassador to the US last year after it was revealed that he continued to communicate with child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after his first conviction in 2008.
Documents released by the US justice department earlier this year revealed that Mandelson passed classified government information to the financier at the height of the global financial crisis. At the time, Mandelson was serving as trade minister under Tony Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown.
Speaking to Times Radio, Cherie Blair said: “I’m very sorry it has come to this. I think… when someone’s life is turned upside down, we have to remember that there is still a human being. And… of course, we have to remember that they have the right to a fair trial.”
He added: “Too many people in the media, especially on social media today, forget that the people they are talking about are human beings with feelings and they can get hurt.”
The Epstein files revealed that Mandelson arranged a meeting between Epstein and Tony Blair while Tony Blair was still prime minister.
But Cherie Blair said: “I really don’t think Tony was involved in this. I mean, the prime minister meets with millions of people all the time. And actually, I think it was Bill Clinton who asked him to meet with Epstein.”
Cherie Blair stated that she was mentioned in the files and added: “I was at a women’s event, his girlfriend was there and she told about it. This just shows what happened.” [Epstein] “He was doing… he met millions of people and used them to make himself look important.”
He criticized the coverage of the files, arguing that coverage of the files focused too much on “important men” as opposed to the women and girls who were abused by Epstein.
“This is about women who have been trafficked, who have been abused, who have been taken into care,” she said. “What worries me sometimes about the Epstein files is that it’s all about the important men… it has to be about what happened to those women and girls, including young girls.”
