UK minister puts pressure on Andrew to testify in US to give Epstein victims what they ‘deserve and need’ – UK politics live

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'This is the end,' Trevor Phillips says to his 'friend' Peter Mandelson in direct video address

At the beginning of his programme, Trevor Phillips delivered a dramatic message straight to camera to Peter Mandelson, his friend for 50 years, who he worked extensively together with over their careers, including as politicians.

Despite Mandelson being sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details of his support for Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and late sex offender, emerged in September, Phillips said he remains friends with Mandelson, an architect of Tony Blair’s New Labour project in the 1990s.

Philip’s monologue was filmed after the latest ‘Epstein files’ release showed Epstein sending £10,000 ($13,692) to Mandelson’s partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009. Addressing Mandelson directly, Phillips said:

It’s a friend’s privilege to tell you that you are ill-suited to a role, even that you are a complete idiot …

I have not spoken personally to Lord Mandelson about the release this weekend of documents, messages, photographs and videos related to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

He was invited to join us this morning but declined … . However, he has told this porgramme that neither he or his husband have any records or recollection of receiving payments of 2003 or 2004 or knows whether the documentation is authentic.

He does accept that Reinaldo received a loan of $10,000 from Epstein whilst he, Mandelson, was a senior cabinet minister, and he acknowledges that in the same period, Epstein was amongst those who lobbied him on important policy matters.

There’s no suggestion that Lord Mandelson has done anything unlawful. But I would claim the friend’s privilege to tell Peter that he has been, at best naive and foolish, at worst greedy and duplicitous.

Whatever is true as far as politics and public office are concerned, for Peter Mandelson, this is the end.

The question now is whether the price of his misjudgement is to be paid only by the man himself, or whether those who trusted him and elevated him to the peerage, and to one of the highest diplomatic posts available, should also share in his ignominy.

Andrew should testify before the US Congress as 'victims deserve and need' anyone who may have 'witnessed things to do that', minister says

We can bring you more from the interview with housing secretary Steve Reed on Sky News’ Trevor Phillips programme this morning (see this post for what Reed said about Peter Mandelson in the same interview).

When asked if the British government would comply with an extradition request from the US if there was a charge brought against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Reed said he could not answer that question as it was an “entirely hypothetical” one.

“I don’t think it’s sensible for me to come on here and start talking hypothetically about situations that may or may not exist,” Reed said.

“The principle here is very, very clear. If Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor … Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor clearly has insight into what was going on and he should testify because the victims deserve and need him and anybody else who may have witnessed things to do that.”

The housing secretary said people have a “moral obligation to share what they knew” to help bring justice to victims. Reed said he is unsure if the government could compel the former prince to give evidence to the US Congress.

Mountbatten-Windsor has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing relating to his relationship with Epstein.

Trump responds to release of latest Epstein files, saying documents 'absolve' him

As we made reference to earlier in the blog, over three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were released on Friday by the department of justice, six weeks after a deadline mandated in a law signed by the US president, Donald Trump, who has been dogged politically by the release of the files.

Trump, who has admitted having a friendship with Epstein, is mentioned hundreds of times in the documents.

Among them is a list compiled by the FBI last year of claims made against the US president by callers to its national Threat Operation Center tip line. Many appear to be unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse relating to Trump, Epstein and other public figures.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse and has said their friendship soured many years ago.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One overnight, Trump said the documents had cleared him of allegations about his connections with Epstein.

“I didn’t see it myself but I was told by some very important people that not only does it absolve me, it’s the opposite of what people were hoping, you know, the radical left,” he said. The Trump administration has faced intense scrutiny over the pacing of the files’ release and the heavy redactions within the published documents.

Nick Robins-Early

Elon Musk had more extensive – and more friendly – communications with the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein than previously publicly known, according to documents released on Friday by the Department of Justice. Emails in the files appear to show the two cordially messaging each other on two separate occasions to make plans for Musk to visit Epstein’s island.

The documents include Musk and Epstein emailing in both 2012 and 2013 to determine when Musk should make the trip to Little St James. Neither exchanges appear to have resulted in Musk visiting the island, due to logistical issues.

Elon Musk, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has said in the past that Jeffrey Epstein had invited him to his island but he had declined. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

“Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays. Is there a good time to visit?” Musk states on 13 December 2013.

“any day 1st - 8th . play it by ear if you want. always space for you,” Epstein replies.

Musk then sends several emails relaying his schedule, and the two settle on 2 January as a date for the visit. The email exchange ends with Epstein telling Musk that he would need to remain in New York and sending his regrets that they could not meet. You can read more here:

Emine Sinmaz is a senior reporter at the Guardian

Jeffrey Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, according to emails published by the US Department of Justice on Friday.

The latest documents raise fresh questions about Epstein’s relationship with Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details of his support for the disgraced financier emerged in September.

The latest dataset published on Friday shows that Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, emailed Epstein on 7 September 2009, about two months after Epstein was released from prison. Epstein had served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender. Mandelson was business secretary at the time and in a relationship with da Silva. The pair married in 2023 after 27 years together.

Da Silva asked Epstein to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses, saying: “I sent you a couple of emails last week regarding my osteo course expenses, incl fee, anatomical models, laptop if you can help me with this. I hope you received them.

“I just managed to speak to the fees office at the osteo school and confirmed that my annual fee is of £3,225 … They accept bank transfer and the details are as follows.” Epstein responded later that day and said: “I will wire your loan amount immediated’y [sic].”

You can read the full story here:

Andrew and Mandelson should 'give all the assistance they possibly can' to authorities investigating Epstein, shadow home secretary says

The Conservative party has said Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten and Peter Mandelson should “give all the assistance they possibly can” to authorities investigating Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking to Sky News, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said this morning:

It’s pretty horrifying to see just how extensive Jeffrey Epstein’s nefarious activities extended. Horrifying to see how many people were involved embroiled in his network.

I certainly agree that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should give all the assistance he possibly can to any official body investigating this, whether it’s the police, the FBI or indeed the US Congress.

The same of course, would apply to Peter Mandelson, who appears to be embroiled in this as well.

Democrat members of the US House Oversight Committee wrote to Windsor-Mountbatten in November asking the former prince to be questioned as part of the probe into Epstein.

The committee said at the time it would seek information about Epstein and his network “based on the men’s longstanding and well-documented friendship”. The committee reportedly gave Windsor-Mountbatten a deadline of 20 November to respond, something Democrats said he failed to do.

The Democrats are unlikely to be able to compel him to speak to them without the support of the Republicans, who chair the committee and are in the majority.

Mandelson should clear up whether a 'lack of disclosure' remains over his links with Epstein, minister says

In his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssbergg this morning, Steve Reed also suggested that Mandelson needs to clear up whether a “lack of disclosure” remains over his links with Epstein.

When asked whether he believed that Mandelson had told the entire truth about his connections to Epstein, the housing secretary replied: “Well, the reason he was removed as ambassador to the US is because there were things he had not disclosed. Now I don’t know how far that lack of disclosure goes. I think he should answer questions about his own life, not me.”

The latest files released by the department of justice also showed former ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, was paid $50,000 by Jeffrey Epstein in two payments in June 2004, when he was a Labour MP.

As a reminder, Mandelson was sacked in September over leaked emails in which he expressed his support for Epstein and urged him to “fight for early release” in 2008 while the disgraced financier was facing charges of soliciting sex from minors.

In 2019, Epstein died in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips programme this morning, the housing secretary, Steve Reed, was asked if Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage because of his association with Epstein. He said:

I think before taking any action like that, we need to understand exactly what’s happened. You’re asking me here about something that happened nearly 20 years ago. I don’t know the full detail of it, I wasn’t in government 20 years ago.

I don’t know whether he declared it or not, and he should have done – the declaration rules had been brought in by then – so I think it would be for Peter Mandelson to explain whether or not that money was properly declared, and if not, then he will need to account for that.

But I don’t want to jump the gun and make assumptions. I think we need to find out exactly what happened first.

A picture of Peter Mandelson in a bathrobe talking to Jeffrey Epstein, which was included in the disgraced financier’s 50th ‘birthday book’. Photograph: Birthday book

Steve Reed’s comments come after the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Andrew Mounbatten-Windsor should testify before the US Congress about his links to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mounbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his titles last year amid the fallout from his friendship with the billionaire, features heavily in the latest tranche of Epstein files, released on Friday by the US justice department.

Speaking after the release of the latest Epstein files, Starmer said: “Firstly, I have always approached this question with the victims of Epstein in mind. Epstein’s victims have to be the first priority. As for whether there should be an apology, that’s a matter for Andrew.

“But yes, in terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that. You can’t be victim-centred if you’re not prepared to do that.”

As my colleagues note in this story, the documents suggest that, a month before the Buckingham Palace invitation, Epstein had suggested he could arrange for Mountbatten-Windsor to have dinner with a “clever, beautiful and trustworthy” Russian woman, who was 26. Mountbatten-Windsor apparently responded that he would be “delighted” to see the woman. He also asked Epstein if it was “good to be free” from house arrest.

Minister calls latest image of Andrew 'very disturbing' and urges him to testify

The housing secretary, Steve Reed, is speaking to the BBC, a day after the latest tranche of releases from the US Department of Justice in relation to Jeffrey Epstein showed an image of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor clothed, on all fours, over a female lying supine on the floor.

Asked what he thought when he saw the photograph of Andrew, Reed said:

“What would anyone think … it is a very disturbing image and very worrying allegations, and as the prime minister said all of our thoughts need to be with those women who were the victims of what Epstein and his associates were doing.

“And the way that we can help those victims is for anybody who has any insight or information about what went on to come forward and testify. We need to shine a light on what has happened.”

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied all wrongdoing in relation to his dealings with Epstein. The former prince had a long friendship with Epstein and is alleged to have sexually assaulted one of his victims, Virginia Giuffre – allegations he denies.

Labour party chair accuses Zack Polanski of being 'cowardly' for not fighting Gorton and Denton byelection

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The Labour party has accused the Green party leader Zack Polanski of being cowardly for not standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection on 26 February.

In an interview with The Observer, the Labour party’s chair, Anna Turley, said the fact Salford-born Polanski did not stand showed the Greens lacked “confidence” to do so.

“It sends a strong message that they think they are in third place … That is the reality – a Green vote is a wasted vote,” she said. A spokesperson for Polanski said he was waiting for the byelection in Holborn and St Pancras.

Labour is vying with the Green party to attract progressive votes to beat Reform in a byelection being framed by Nigel Farage’s party as a referendum on Keir Starmer’s leadership.

It was triggered by the resignation of the former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne because of ill health.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski arrives at BBC Broadcasting House ahed of his interview with Laura Kuenssberg Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

The Greens came third in the Gorton and Denton seat at the 2024 general election, just behind Reform UK.

Although Labour won the seat with a majority of 13,000, the party has massively slid in the polls since and will face fierce competition from the opposition parties likely to make gains due to huge voter disenchantment with the government.

The Green party has selected Hannah Spencer, a Trafford councillor and plumber by trade, to run in the byelection, while Labour has selected Angeliki Stogia, a Manchester city councillor, and Reform picked Matthew Goodwin, a former academic who is now a GB News presenter and hard-right activist.

Polanski will be interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg politics programme shortly. Stick with us as we bring you the latest lines.