00:00OK, now, in the run-up to this state visit, there were, of course, the headlines that I presume the organisers of the state visit found quite tiresome that wouldn't go away with regards to Jeffrey Epstein.
00:11And now you were one of the people to have warned the British government against the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States.
00:21And, of course, he was sacked last week. Why were you so sure he was the wrong man for the job?
00:25Well, because you shouldn't have anything to do with paedophiles. I mean, it's just morally wrong.
00:31And plus, this Jeffrey Epstein was like the apex of a whole theory in America around QAnon about paedophile rings.
00:42It was just much too toxic. Now, I just want to say as well, Peter Mandelson is the supreme politician of the last 40 years.
00:50He created New Labour. He negotiated the Good Friday Agreement with Northern Ireland.
00:55He went to America and he negotiated a very good trade deal.
00:58He's an immaculate politician and dealmaker as well.
01:04But he's got demons and those demons have brought him down again.
01:08This is the third time he's had to be removed from office.
01:11OK, so when you flagged this up to people presumably in Downing Street and you expressed your objection and your reservations about him being Britain's man in Washington.
01:23Reservations. What were you told?
01:25What did they say to you when you said he's not the right man for the job?
01:30Not too much.
01:31I mean, the point is, I then talked about it publicly, you know, because people walking up to me in the inauguration showing me photos of Peter Mandelson clothes shopping with Jeffrey Epstein blowing out the birthday candles.
01:48So I said, look, you know, I said very publicly that I thought this was a bad idea and I got a, let's say, a message telling me to, you know, the discretion is the better part of valour and to stop talking about it.
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