SNP to mount new bid to strip Peter Mandelson of peerage

The party said it would table a Bill on Tuesday to force action as Lord Mandelson continues to sit in the House of Lords, use his titles, remains on the Foreign Office payroll and retains the Labour Party whip.

It comes as Lord Mandelson declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for remaining friends with the paedophile financier after his conviction. In a TV appearance, the former UK ambassador to the US said he had paid a “calamitous” price in being sacked over his association with “evil monster” Epstein.

He apologised for a system which meant Epstein’s victims were not listened to, but not for his own association with the sex offender which continued after his first conviction.

Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitating prostitution and soliciting a minor but Lord Mandelson said he believed his excuses and continued to support him.

Lord Mandelson said it was “misplaced loyalty” and “a most terrible mistake on my part”.

He sought to distance himself from Epstein, saying “I was at the edge of this man’s life”, but emails have revealed the extent of their friendship even after the conviction.

In his first broadcast interview since being sacked from his diplomatic role in Washington in September last year, Lord Mandelson told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I never saw anything in his life when I was with him, when I was in his homes, that would give me any reason to suspect what this evil monster was doing in preying on these young women.”

He added: “I think the issue is that because I was a gay man in his circle, I was kept separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life.”

Asked whether he wanted to apologise, Lord Mandelson said: “I want to apologise to those women for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect.”

Pressed on whether he would apologise for his friendship with Epstein after his conviction, Lord Mandelson said: “If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise… but I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable for what he was doing, and I regret, and will regret to my dying day, the fact that powerless women were not given the protection they were entitled to expect.”

Asked if he deserved to be sacked by Sir Keir Starmer, Lord Mandelson said: “I understand why I was sacked.”

SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn MP said: “It is absolutely sickening that Keir Starmer continues to allow Peter Mandelson to sit in the House of Lords.

“Far from showing contrition, Peter Mandelson is revelling in media attention whilst refusing to apologise for his association with Jeffrey Epstein.”

The Bill titled “Removal of Peerages Bill” reads that it will “make provision about the removal of peerages in certain circumstances; to provide that the removal of a peerage removes any right to sit in the House of Lords; and for connected purposes.”

He added: "Keir Starmer delayed in condemning Peter Mandelson, he delayed in sacking him as Ambassador to the US and he is delaying in removing him from the House of Lords - it is an insult to voters who expect far better and to taxpayers who are footing the bill for his wages but, above all, it is fails the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, who deserve far better.”