Judgement Day

‘Sir Keir Starmer won’t freeze out Mandelson over Epstein friendship’ is a headline in today’s Daily Telegraph, picking up on the story in Tuesday’s Financial Times. No surprises there then. The paper repeats a quote (made on Mandy’s behalf by an anonymous spokesperson) that ‘Lord Mandelson very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.’ I wonder when this regret crept in? Obviously not when Jeffrey Epstein was in prison for sex offending. I think we can call this the Prince Andrew syndrome, where you discover that you hardly knew your good friend, in fact if push came to shove you might tell yourself that it was barely an acquaintance. Speaking through his anonymous spokesperson (I wonder who that is?) Mandy, as is so often the case seeks to work behind a veil. The problem for him is that he will have to keep his head down for quite some time to avoid questions on the subject. One such question is whether the two actually did share ‘business’ together. Mandy’s anonymous friend says their relationship had no business aspect. That contradicts what Virginia Roberts said (Daily Mail, 7/3/2011)  ‘I remember him being at the house in New York and I was introduced to him at a dinner party. He and Jeffrey talked business together. I assumed they were in business together. I was never asked to give him [Mandelson] a massage.’ Poor old Peter. Given Roberts took Prince Andrew to the cleaners I don’t think we should dismiss her claim out of hand. Mandy should have a proper sit down chat with Emily Maitlis.