Lord Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour and a man once dubbed the "Prince of Darkness," faced the glare of the studio lights on Sunday and refused to blink. In his first broadcast interview since being sacked as US Ambassador-designate, Mandelson told the BBC he would not apologize for his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, insisting he was merely "at the edge" of the financier's life.

The interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg was billed as a rehabilitation attempt. Instead, it turned into a forensic dissection of judgment. Mandelson described the personal cost of the scandal as "calamitous," a choice of words that critics say centers his own suffering over that of Epstein’s victims.

"I Was Not Culpable"

Pressed repeatedly on whether he owed the victims an apology for legitimizing Epstein after his 2008 conviction, Mandelson was defiant. "If I had known, if I was in any way complicit, of course I would apologize," he said. "But I was not culpable. I was not knowledgeable."

• The "Housekeeper" Defense: Mandelson claimed that during his stays at Epstein’s properties in New York and the Caribbean, he saw only "housekeepers," never young girls. "I never saw anything that would give me reason to suspect what an evil monster this man was," he insisted.
• The "Misplaced Loyalty": He admitted to maintaining the friendship out of "misplaced loyalty" and believing Epstein’s claims of being framed. He famously called Epstein his "best pal" in a birthday email, a phrase he now describes as "toe-curlingly embarrassing."
• Political Backlash: The interview has done little to quell the fury within the Labour Party. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called his stance "deep naivety at best," while backbenchers are privately furious that the "Mandelson distraction" continues to plague the Starmer government.

A Career in Ruins?

Mandelson framed his sacking as a "painful price" he has already paid. But by refusing to offer a direct apology to the victims—apologizing instead for "the system"—he has reinforced the perception of an elite untouchability. For a man who built his career on mastering the media, this may have been his final, fatal miscalculation.