These questions were: why has he continued contact with Epstein after he was convicted? Why was he reported to have stayed in one of Epstein’s homes while the financier was in prison? And was he associated with a charity founded by Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell that the financier had backed?
It is understood Mandelson believes that he was truthful and frank about his association with Epstein, and told No 10 that he had not stayed in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2009, while the paedophile was in prison. Another source confirmed Mandelson told Downing Street he had not stayed there.
Court documents in 2023 showed Epstein telling his private banker that Mandelson was planning to stay, but the peer has never explicitly denied or confirmed if he did.
No 10 sources believe Mandelson was “economical with the truth” in his answers to the three questions.
However, at the time, his answers were considered sufficient for him to be appointed which led to a second vetting process, called “developed vetting” (DV), being carried out under the auspices of the Foreign Office.
The BBC has been told the emails were not available to those in government when Lord Mandelson was appointed, as they came from a defunct email address.
A senior Whitehall figure said it would have been possible to locate those messages had more questions been asked, and forensic background digging been done.