Lord Mandelson has apologised for continuing to be friends with Jeffrey Epstein even after the paedophile financier's first conviction, days after refusing to do so.
In a statement to Sky News, the UK's former ambassador to the US said he would like to "apologise unequivocally" for remaining friends with Epstein, who in 2008 pleaded guilty to two charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor.
It comes after Lord Mandelson was sacked as ambassador in September by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as historic emails between him and Epstein were published, revealing the pair's relationship was "materially different" to what he had disclosed to the government.
He had earlier refused to apologise to Epstein's victims in his first interview since his sacking on Sunday.
He was asked by the BBC if he would like to apologise for continuing his relationship, and refused to do so, saying, "If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise. But I was not culpable, I was not knowledgeable for what he was doing, and I regret, and will regret to my dying day, the fact that powerless women were not given the protection they were entitled to expect."
Mandelson refusal led to widespread outrage, including from minsters.
Lord Mandelson has now changed course with an apology.
In a new statement, he said, "At the weekend, I gave an interview to the BBC. In answering questions about my association with Jeffrey Epstein I did not want to be held responsible for his crimes of which I was ignorant, not indifferent, because of the lies he told me and so many others.”
There have been calls for Lord Mandelson to be stripped of his right to sit in the House of Lords as a Labour peer, with the SNP launching a fresh campaign to so this week.
