Invidious

Summary:

• Hislop thinks it is likely that Mandelson will be arrested. (00:45)
• Keir Starmer, his advisers, businessmen are pretending that they had no idea that Epstein was a paedophile, but it was common knowledge - the case was in 2008, and Private Eye ran covers about is in 2011. (01:09)
• The most recent issue of Private Eye has a cover of Mandelson in his underpants, saying “I’ve let myself down, my party down, and my trousers down”. (02:42)
• Hislop says that Keir Starmer showed an incredible lack of judgement in bringing Mandelson back: “there was no justification, knowing what he knew, for appointing him as ambassador” (03:22)
• The amounts Mandelson were offered by Epstein were not huge, but people like Mandelson fall in love with the money. “There comes a point where they believe they are entitled to all of this money, and then, full on, they believe they are entitled to help out their friends”. (05:02)
• He says Mandelson has selective amnesia: “he can’t remember any of the bits, where he might have behaved very very badly”. (05:45)
• “If you’re sending documents about which particular assets might be on sale, to a man who boasts about being a financier, it might be something much more serious.” (05:59)
• Hislop doesn’t think that Mandelson has learned anything. His statements didn’t show sympathy for the victims, until he was called out for doing so. He now says he doesn’t remember, which Hislop calls out as being says is just a front. (06:41)
• Marr puts it to Hislop that there has been far more response to the scandal in the UK than in the US, with Andrew Windsor losing his titles, and now this. Trump’s connection with Epstein seemed closer than Mandelson’s, but Trump is undamaged while Mandelson is facing consequences. (07:56) Hislop says:
  • “At least there is still some shame, this side of the pond, and that we are have taken this seriously”. (08:29)
  • “Because there is nothing particularly conclusive about Trump, which is what everyone wanted, the story there is not as big as it is here.” (08:35)
  • In the UK, people like Richard Branson (who offered to restore Epstein’s reputation) are facing reputational consequences, while in the US, the responses is very muted. (08:49)
• Hislop thinks that the Conservatives will be delighted at the chance to call Labour corrupt at PMQs, especially after the PPE scandal. (09:33)