Lord Mandelson has rebuked alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein and the prospect of Nigel Farage taking up an "envoy" role with Donald Trump in a scathing new interview - just as he arrives in Washington DC.
The incoming British ambassador to the US told the Financial Times to "f**k off" when pressed on his relationship with the sex offender, adding: "I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell... I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.
"I'm not going to go into this. It's an FT obsession and frankly you can all f**k off. OK?"
Mandelson is alleged to have stayed at Epstein's New York City townhouse while the financier was in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor in a 2019 JPMorgan report - which also suggests the pair had a "particularly close relationship".
Lord Mandelson said his links to Jeffrey Epstein were 'an FT obsession'
He also quashed the idea of Nigel Farage taking up some kind of "interlocutor" role between the Labour Government and the Donald Trump White House, despite having pitched the idea of Farage as a "bridgehead" into DC in the past.
"Nigel Farage is part of the ecosystem around President Trump," Mandelson said.
"He says he wants to help build a good relationship between the US and UK, and I take him at face value. But he's not going to be an envoy, official or unofficial."
But in a blow to the Reform UK leader, the FT also reports that some British diplomats privately believe "Farage's star is already waning" with the President.
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Farage is 'not going to be an envoy, official or unofficial', Mandelson warned
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It comes as Downing Street has confirmed that the long-time Labour grandee has arrived in the US capital - and will officially begin his stint as British ambassador on Monday.
And in a bid to mend strained relations with Trump's team, the incoming ambassador also vowed he was not "wokey-cokey".
In late December, senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita labelled the Labour peer an "absolute moron" in light of Mandelson's historical comments about the President.
The incoming British ambassador also vowed he was not 'wokey-cokey' in a bid to mend strained relations with Trump's team
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But he brushed these off as "young minds ploughing their own furrow on a sea of too much inauguration alcohol".
He added: "Some around Mr Trump see me as they view many in Europe.
"They see me as a left-wing progressive, somebody who might even be anti-business or somebody who might be following the sort of liberalism they've just defeated in America.
"What they will discover is I'm not an uber-liberal, I'm not a wokey-cokey sort of person, and I'm pro-market and pro-business."
