Mandelson attempted to lobby senior Cabinet members to change government policy on a planned tax raid on bankers’ bonuses. “Trying hard to amend,” Mandelson (then Business Secretary) emailed Epstein in December 2009. “Treasury digging in but I am on [the] case.” On 9 December 2009, Chancellor Alistair Darling had revealed a one-off 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses. New information from the Epstein Files reveals that Mandelson advised Jamie Dimon, head of JP Morgan on how to intimidate the Government into reversing the banker”s bonus tax. On 15 December, according to the Tax Policy Associates website, Mr Epstein asked Lord Mandelson if the bank payroll tax could be amended so that it applied only to cash bonuses and not share options. In the ensuing conversation – which shows how lobbying can work when senior ministers have close personal relationships with global CEOs – Lord Mandelson it emerged that Mandelson had spoken to key JPM banker Jes Staley, saying that he was working on Darling to water down the bonus tax. It was also revealed that Mandelson advised that JPM CEO Jamie Dimon should “mildly threaten” Alistair Darling. The inference being here that this threat would include an exodus of staff from JP Morgan in the UK, as well as important financial services related tax, not to mention the damage to UK’s claim to be the world’s international financial capital. At the time, there were plans to create a new JP Morgan HQ in London, a plan that could be scrapped or reduced. After losing the election in 2010, Mandelson went on to be the co-founder – with former aide Benjamin Wegg Prosser – of lobbying firm Global Counsel (which Mandelson is no longer involved with). Subsequent email exchanges reveal that Mandelson looked to be hoping to get a possible contract or lobby role at the global bank which Global Counsel went on to advise as a client. Mandelson wrote: “My aim is to acquire enough knowledge and networks in time to participate in real deals. I do not want to live on salary alone. That’s why I need to do as much as possible to build with JPM”. Speaking after the files were revealed, Mandelson claimed that all UK and international banks were making similar cases about the impact on UK financial services. ‘My conversations in government at the time reflected the views of the sector as a whole, not a single individual.’ In other developments with the release of the latest Epstein files, emails appear to reveal that Jeffrey Epstein made $75,000 (£55,000) wire payments to bank accounts connected to Lord Mandelson, according to bank statements released by the US Department of Justice. According To the BBC, who have had staff sifting through all the files, Epstein appears to have wired three separate $25,000 payments referencing Lord Mandelson between 2003-4. Mandelson has said he had no record or recollection of receiving the sums and did not know whether the documents were authentic. He reiterated his regret for “ever having known Epstein” and for continuing his association following the disgraced financier’s conviction, apologising “unequivocally to the women and girls who suffered”. A photograph of Epstein in white underpants was also revealed in the latest Epstein files. Asked for a reaction, Mandelson said he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”. Mandelson has stressed that on being appointed UK Ambassador to Washington, he had always been transparent about his links to Epstein. Being named or pictured in the controversial files – which reference many wealthy and powerful figures, from Bill Clinton to President Trump – is not an indication of having done anything wrong or illicit. According to the Financial Times, three separate payments referencing Lord Mandelson were sent from Epstein’s JP Morgan bank accounts. The first, dated 14 May 2003, was sent to a Barclays bank account where Reinaldo Avila da Silva – Mandelson’s partner at the time – is named. A “Peter Mandelson” is named on the account as “BEN” (a typical abbreviation for beneficiary). The other two payments for $25,000 were made to HSBC accounts in June 2004 with “Peter Mandelson” named, again as “BEN”. There is no proof that such payments were ever received into the accounts. With Mandelson now saying he is going to investigate the payments himself, it will be interesting to see what his self-investigation reveals....