The new British Ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, told a journalist to go “fuck yourself” in response to a question about his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, PA Media/DPA reported, BTA reported.
Questions have recently been raised about the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
In response to a question from a journalist from the “Financial Times“ about his relationship with the financier, the ambassador, however, said that he did not want to discuss this topic.
“I regret ever having met him, that he was introduced to me by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell”, he said. "I am even more sorry for the pain he has caused so many young women," the British ambassador added. "I will not discuss that. It is a [Financial Times] obsession and frankly you can all go to hell." "Is that okay?" added Mandelson.
The new British ambassador made the remarks in a wide-ranging interview before officially taking up his role as Britain's representative to the US.
After recently retracting his comments about US President Donald Trump being a "threat to the world", he stressed that he would treat the new administration with "respect, seriousness and understanding of their political positions".
Mandelson also played down comments by one of Trump's advisers who called him a "complete idiot", saying the comments were made by "young minds who were making their own way in a sea of too much alcohol during the inauguration".
"Some people around Mr Trump look at me the way they look at many people in Europe. "They see me as a representative of the progressive left, someone who might even be anti-business, or someone who might be a follower of the kind of liberalism that they just defeated in America," he said.
"But they will understand that I am not an ultra-liberal, I am not some 'woke' person and I support markets and business," Mandelson added.
But he warned that even his diplomatic skills, for which he said former President George W. Bush called him a 'silver tongue,' may not be enough to avoid Britain from Trump's threats to impose tariffs. "I don't think we will be specifically targeted, but if tariffs are imposed across the board, then we will be affected," Mandelson said.