A Flying Start | The Mandelson files Ep1

**SPEAKER_2** (0:14)
Do you remember when Clinton saw Tony Blair? He said he wanted to introduce his travelling friend.

**Ada Barumé** (0:24)
It's May 7th, 2002 Peter Mandelson, one of the architects of New Labour and MP for Hartlepool, has recently resigned from the Cabinet for the second time.
This is an email he's sending to the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell. Like all the correspondents you'll hear, it's voiced by an actor.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:44)
He is young and vibrant. He is safe, whatever that means. And Clinton is now doing a lot of travelling with him.

**Ada Barumé** (0:52)
Despite his public fall from grace, Peter Mandelson is still influential at the highest levels of government.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:59)
I think Tony Blair would be interested in meeting Geoffrey, who is also a friend of mine, because Geoffrey is an active scientific catalyst entrepreneur, as well as someone who has his finger on the pulse of many worldwide markets and currencies.

**Ada Barumé** (1:15)
The Geoffrey he's referring to is Geoffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who would turn out to be one of the most notorious sex offenders in modern history.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:25)
I mentioned to Tony Blair that Geoffrey is in London next week, and he said he would like to meet him. Can you let me know?
Thanks Peter.

**Ada Barumé** (1:35)
A week later, Tony Blair's private secretary sends the Prime Minister a memo outlining who he's meeting later that day.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:43)
He's a financial advisor to the super rich and a property developer. He is a friend of Bill Clinton and Peter Mandelson. The background of Epstein is that he is very rich.

**Ada Barumé** (1:52)
The PM's private secretary goes on to explain that Jeffrey Epstein made his money working for billionaire Lesley Wexner, who owns the lingerie firm Victoria's Secret, and makes sure to mention Epstein's many homes.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:05)
He has a $30 million home in New York plus a 10,000 acre ranch in New Mexico and a villa in Palm Beach. Peter says Epstein now travels with Clinton and wants you to meet him.

**Ada Barumé** (2:16)
The two men did meet on this one occasion for less than 30 minutes and it's reported they discussed US and UK politics.
And how do we know all this now, 24 years after the event? The email and memo form part of a vast tranche of documents that the government released earlier this year, after yet another Peter Mandelson scandal forced its hand.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:39)
Lord Peter Mandelson has been sacked as the British ambassador to the United States.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:46)
Impossible as it turned out for him to withstand the fresh revelations about the extent of his relationship with the notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

**Ada Barumé** (2:55)
And Keir Starmer would become the latest Labour Prime Minister to rue the day he gave Peter Mandelson a job.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:02)
Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.

**Ada Barumé** (3:14)
But there's a bigger story here too. If you take the time to read the 1500 pages of documents the government was forced to publish, you discover they aren't just about the political machinations of Peter Mandelson. At the time when the files came out, there was a sense of anti-climax, at least for some in the media. There was no smoking gun or neat news line.
But when you take a step back and let the brushstrokes of that story settle into a bigger picture, they reveal a lot about how the UK is run, how people wield power in Whitehall and Westminster, and how our politics works. I'm Ada Borume, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, this is The Mandelson Files, episode one, A Flying Start.

**SPEAKER_7** (4:07)
It is coming up to five o'clock in the morning, on this the fifth of July. We can now say with certainty that Labour have won the 2024 general election.

**Ada Barumé** (4:19)
After 14 years in opposition, the Labour Party is back in power.

**SPEAKER_7** (4:23)
For what a moment this is for Labour.

**Ada Barumé** (4:26)
Since 2010, the UK has had five prime ministers, four general elections, two national referendums and one global pandemic. The public finances are shaky. The cost of living is on everyone's minds. The NHS is on its knees and populist politicians are blaming migrants for many of the country's problems.
The new government has a lot to be getting on with.

**SPEAKER_8** (4:50)
And there is Sir Keir Starmer, who will become Britain's 58th prime minister.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:55)
We did it!

**SPEAKER_6** (5:00)
You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it. And now it has arrived. Change begins now.