The Epstein Shame Goes Way Beyond Mandelson

A little over 15 years ago I was on a bus with Peter Mandelson touring England’s northern towns and cities. It was spring 2010 and the then-business secretary had been drafted in by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to breathe life into Labour’s stumbling campaign in a general election he would go on to lose.

Mandelson’s role was to join the travelling circus of journalists on the bus or, more often, when he couldn’t bear to leave the comfort of his Jaguar car, at campaign pitstops. There he’d sprinkle pithy witticisms and profound insights for us to write up and share with the great British voting public.