Peter Mandelson’s ministerial assistant sent Jeffrey Epstein a copy of a government speech before it was delivered to the public, just days after the paedophile financier was released from prison, documents uncovered by Sky News appear to show.
The assistant signed off the message as executive assistant to the secretary of state on the email that appears to be sent from a government address to Epstein’s Gmail account.
The time of the email says it was sent on 24 July 2009, just two days after Epstein left prison for sexual offending.
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There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on behalf of the assistant.
Lord Mandelson is currently under police investigation for misconduct in public office.
The email from Lord Mandelson’s assistant to Epstein says: “Peter has asked me to forward you the attached speech he is delivering on Monday. Thanks.”
The name of the attached speech is BirkbeckFINAL.doc, and the subject line of the message is HE Speech – a potential reference to higher education.
Three days later, Lord Mandelson delivered a speech at Birkbeck, University of London, where he laid out the government’s expectation that university fees were set to rise, and that British university courses should be marketed worldwide, according to a contemporary report from the FT.
Then business secretary, it was Lord Mandelson’s first speech on tertiary education, having only just taken on the area in his brief.
At the bottom of the email, the first of its chain, is a footer saying the email was sent from the Government Secure Intranet.
Read more:
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What do the Epstein files say about Lord Peter Mandelson?
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