Mandelson praises Trump’s ‘graciousness’ and declines to apologise for friendship with Jeffrey Epstein – as it happened

In first TV interview since he was sacked as UK ambassador to US, Mandelson says association with Epstein was ‘terrible mistake’ but adds: ‘I was not culpable’Laura Kuenssberg asks Peter Mandelson if he liked Donald Trump when he was the UK ambassador to Washington.Mandelson says he did like Trump, listing off numerous reasons why, but said he did not like all of his “language”.I like him, yes, I liked his humour, his graciousness…I liked his directness. You knew exactly what he was thinking and where you stood and what he wanted. And how he was proposing to engage, with you. Did I like in all his language? No, I didn’t, did I? Did he make me gasp?What’s going to happen is there’s going to be, another discussion, a lot of consultation and a lot of negotiation.At the end of the day, we are all going to have to wake up to the reality that the Arctic needs securing against China and Russia. Continue reading...