Lindsey German assesses an epicentral crisis for the political mainstream

The filth in the Epstein files exposes some of the worst aspects of capitalist society. It’s pretty much all there: the trafficking and abuse of women, many of them only in their teens, and the appalling attitudes towards them; the business deals which help these sordid individuals get even richer; the connections with despots who fuel business and arms deals; the interference in the political process aimed at smoothing those deals. Epstein created networks of some of the most powerful men in the world – and they were almost exclusively men, with the women very much in a servicing and degraded role.

Although the vast majority of those named are not from Britain, the scandal goes right to heart of British politics because of two individuals, Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, frequently referred to in the files and long known for their association with Epstein.

It is pitiful to hear Keir Starmer and his cabinet minister whine about how Mandelson lied to them. Of course he did. It’s what he was long famous for doing. Given his reputation for record of spin, given that he had twice left government disgraced, given that his common epithet was ‘prince of darkness’, it can really not have been a surprise that he would lie. Mandelson wanted the Washington job, his protégé Morgan McSweeney wanted him to have it, and Starmer thought he would be best placed to deal with Trump.

This week, Mandelson has been bounced out of the Labour party, out of the House of Lords, and is now under police investigation. But beneath the angry denunciations of him, several very important facts are being ignored. Mandelson was the architect of new Labour, who brought us Tony Blair, who declared proudly in a speech to Silicon Valley executives that New Labour was ‘intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich’, and who helped lead every witch-hunt against the left. This was no more so than in the Labour Together project, designed to get Starmer into the Labour leadership and then into government.

The whole aim of this was to destroy Corbynism, root out the left in the most vicious and dishonest way, and ensure that Labour’s right would be in the driving seat. Starmer was their mascot, but this right-wing clique had Mandelson very closely involved, including in the selection of candidates for the 2024 general election. McSweeney has been key to developing the ‘patriotic’ policies of flag waving and attacking immigrants, believing wrongly that the left could be ignored as they would always vote Labour. We will see how that works at the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Now we find out that Mandelson told Epstein confidential government business, told bankers JP Morgan to put pressure on the then Chancellor to stop a tax on them, and obviously did for Gordon Brown when the 2010 election resulted in a hung parliament. Some call this ‘misconduct’, although it’s hard to see it as less than treason against an elected government.

Then there’s the royal family, with more revelations about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Apparently, many of the servants in Sandringham, where he has moved to another grace and favour house, and not normally a rebellious lot, don’t want to work with him, and who can blame them? His former wife Sarah Ferguson is also heavily implicated in the files, grovelling to Epstein for money and prestige.

It would be a mistake to see the disgusting sleaze and corruption, and the thousands of victims trafficked and abused, as the only story, however. This was a well-organised international network of ruling-class and upper-middle-class individuals who together exerted massive power and influence, who controlled business, finance, politics, or were big names in culture and entertainment. Epstein smoothed many of these deals and provided for their personal and sexual desires. The files reveal deals including the fact that Mountbatten-Windsor advocated for Epstein while on a state visit to the UAE with the Queen in 2010, writing: ‘You are in big time. He thinks you are great and would like to introduce you to Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown Prince.’

The figures talked about are eye watering:

The latest documents released by the Department of Justice show there were other payments from Epstein to high-profile individuals through different banks. In J P Morgan’s case, the bank handled 4,700 transactions related to Epstein, totalling more than $1bn.

Or take the case of Jes Staley:

Jes Staley was then chief executive of J P Morgan’s investment bank. In 2008, while Epstein was serving his prison sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution, Staley asked Epstein what salary he should request from Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO. Epstein told him to demand a $1mn raise up to $25mn a year. In the same email, Staley told the then inmate: “It’s boring without you around”. In one of the most controversial communications between the two men, Staley asked Epstein to “say hi to Snow White”. The FT reported this week that Epstein had asked a woman to buy a Snow White costume weeks earlier in a separate email that did not mention Staley.

Staley visited Epstein’s Caribbean Island for lunch, as did then US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, while Larry Summers, Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, spent part of his honeymoon there. Trump himself and his wife Melania are mentioned many thousands of times and had connections with Epstein.

There are FBI reports that Epstein trained as a Mossad spy. There are also reports about potential Russian involvement in the network, or that Epstein himself worked for Russia. Given the powerful positions of many of these men, and the sheer breadth of the scope of the network, it seems likely to me that some form of spying or intelligence was involved. But it would be a mistake to see this as an espionage ring, centred on Russia, Israel or anywhere else. It’s much more than that. It’s much more than a 21st century Profumo affair.

This is a tale of entire corrupt system, of how its rulers act with impunity and believe they are beyond law or accountability, how they reward themselves financially, and how they use their power to abuse women sexually. They believe they can buy anything, and Epstein encouraged and facilitated that view.

What of the British dimension? Obviously Starmer and McSweeney should go but the whole rottenness of Labour remains, and Mandelson’s legacy remains. There’s a lot of talk about regulation, but this will be the same group of people marking their own homework. At a bare minimum we must abolish the House of Lords, a cesspit of corruption at the heart of politics, and the monarchy, to even begin to achieve democratic accountability. But we desperately need an alternative to Labour and to the rotten parliamentarianism it upholds.

As Edward Luce writes in the Financial Times ‘A budding Vladimir Lenin, or Benito Mussolini, might see the files as kindling awaiting a revolutionary spark.’ The rottenness of the system is creating a major polarisation politically – and we need to ensure that revolutionary spark benefits the left.

This week: The defeat of the prosecution over some of the Filton 24 defendants has been excellent news – now drop all charges for all those facing charges over Palestine, including some organisers of the national marches. Hear them speak at a public meeting this Thursday 12 February in London, and on the same day join the workplace day of action for Palestine. I will also be speaking for Tower Hamlets Stop the War on Wednesday on war and Islamophobia.

This Briefing is out a day early as my friend and comrade Michael Lavalette is putting a statement out tomorrow about his election to the CEC for Your Party. If you’re a member, please give him one of your votes in the public office holder section.

Join the eve of Your Party election online rally, 5pm on Sunday 8 February – register on Zoom here