Sir Tony Blair has been forced to admit he met Jeffrey Epstein while still prime minister, it’s been reported.
A memo written by a senior civil servant in 2002 briefed Sir Tony about ‘super-rich’ financial adviser Epstein ahead of a meeting on May 14 of that year.
It took place six years before Epstein admitted soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
The meeting took place after lobbying by Lord Peter Mandelson, a friend of Epstein’s who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last month over his friendship with the paedophile.
The Labour peer, who was previously a high-profile figure in Tony Blair’s government, faced massive pressure after his contribution to Epstein’s notorious 50th birthday book were published.
A spokesperson for Sir Tony told the BBC: ‘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.
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‘This was, of course, long before his crimes were known of and his subsequent conviction.’
The memo as well as several other documents have been released by the National Archives under a Freedom of Information request following the sacking of Lord Mandelson.
Government officials had previously blocked their release due to concerns about the impact on UK-US relations.
What do we know about Tony Blair’s meeting with Epstein?
In an email to Sir Tony’s chief of staff at the time, Jonathan Powell, Lord Mandelson refers to Epstein as ‘safe’.
Sent on May 7, 2002, it said: ‘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 re-schedule accordingly. Can you let me know?’
A further memo, written on May 14, 2002, briefed Sir Tony about Epstein ahead of a meeting scheduled for 5pm on that day.
The memo was written by senior civil servant Matthew Rycroft and marked ‘R’, which is believed to stand for ‘restricted’.
It read: ‘Jeffrey Epstein is seeing you at 5pm today.
‘He is a financial adviser to the super-rich and a property developer. He is a friend of Bill Clinton and Peter Mandelson.
‘The background on Epstein is that he is very rich and close to the Duke of York.
‘Peter says that Epstein now travels with Clinton and Clinton wants you to meet him.
‘He thinks you would find worthwhile a conversation with him about a) science and b) international economic and monetary trends.’
What is Tony Blair doing now?
After resigning as UK prime minister in 2007 and giving up his seat as an MP, Sir Tony was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. He held this diplomatic post until 2015.
Since 2016 he has been executive chair at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a think tank and consultancy which advises politicians, governments and businesses on strategy and policy.
The Institute has a particular focus on the role of technology in politics, and has carried out research into the public perception of AI and digital ID cards.
More recently it has worked closely with Donald Trump to develop a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.
Sir Tony is still an influential figure in politics – and has been a key influence on current prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
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