"The deals you want to be involved in require discretion, trust, handshakes, privacy. This book announces that you are willing to sell all of these for a farthing" is such a perfect summary of Mandelson. The world's most notorious sex trafficker was a better judge of character than the current PM
![Lord Peter Mandelson sought Epstein's opinion on the draft of his 2010 memoir about New Labour's rise to power and his relationships with former prime ministers
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
"I have finished my first read [...] The deals you want to be involved in require discretion, trust, handshakes, privacy. This book announces that you are willing to sell all of these for a farthing," Epstein wrote as part of an email exchange dated 16 May 2010.
"Your friend, and boss, tony [sic], is more often described as frail, flustered, tired, weak, and Gordon, flawed, demanding, pig-headed, irrationally determined."
The emails, released by the US Department of Justice, give an insight into how much Mandelson valued Epstein's advice and shows they remained close after the disgraced financier was convicted of child sex offences in 2008.
"It is not uplifting, it is gossipy and defensive," Epstein adds, saying he found the draft book
"troubling" and recommending that Mandelson look at his manuscript again.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jziujmsqvcwblhtksoo2ezzr/bafkreiczwxqqstqhfil6scxm3soihrmcahptuloseazr67sktpcdzlmvsy)
