Sir Tony Blair met with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street while still Prime Minister.
It has been confirmed that the former PM met Sir Tony on May 14, 2002, through a memo written by senior civil servant Matthew Rycroft.
The memo briefed Mr Blair on meeting “super-rich” financial adviser Epstein ahead of a meeting scheduled at 5pm that day.
The meeting was six years before Epstein pleaded guilty to enabling prostitution of a minor in 2008.
A spokesman for Sir Tony said: “As far as he can remember, Mr Blair met with him for less than 30 minutes in Downing Street in 2002, and discussed US and UK politics.
“He never met or engaged with him subsequently. This was, of course, long before his crimes were known of and his subsequent conviction.”
Emails showed Lord Mandelson pushing for the meeting, telling Sir Tony’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, that Epstein was “a friend of mine”.
Former President Bill Clinton reportedly hoped to introduce Epstein to Sir Tony.
Sir Tony’s spokesman said he met with Epstein for ‘less than 30 minutes’
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PA
The release of the information had previously been blocked by Government officials due to concerns about the impact on UK-US relations.
The document has now been released by the National Archives under a Freedom of Information request, following the dismissal of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador to the UK.
In the email to Sir Tony’s chief of staff, it reads: “Do you remember when Clinton saw TB [Tony Blair] he said he wanted to introduce his travelling friend, Jeffrey Epstein, to TB?
“This was frustrated – TB said at the time – in the office for reasons (he says) he was unclear about.
“I think TB would be interested in meeting Jeffrey, who is also a friend of mine, because Jeffrey is an active scientific catalyst/entrepreneur as well as someone who has his finger on the pulse of many worldwide markets and currencies.
“He is young and vibrant. He is safe (whatever that means) and Clinton is now doing a lot of travelling with him.
“I mentioned to TB that Jeffrey is in London next week and he said he would like to meet him.
“I have ascertained from Jeffrey that he is flexible – he could be here any time from Tuesday onwards to fit round the diary – but would obviously need to know reasonably quickly so as to reschedule accordingly. Can you let me know?”
The email seen by the BBC had three handwritten notes, with one stating: “Do you want to do this… Because you wanted to see Clinton by yourself… I know very little more about him.”
Epstein was described as ‘young, vibrant and safe’ by Lord Mandelson
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GETTYDuring this time, Lord Mandelson was a backbench MP, having previously resigned twice from the cabinet.
Sir Keir has left the door open to his return, but only as a Labour peer.
Speaking to reporters during his trade mission in Mumbai, the Prime Minister was asked if he could see a future for Lord Mandelson in frontline politics.
Sir Keir replied: “Not in a Government role in terms of future appointments. I think Peter is also on a leave of absence from the Lords in any event, so the issue of the whip doesn’t arise.”