Former U.K. Ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson said continuing his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was “a most terrible mistake,” but he declined to offer a direct apology to Epstein’s victims in his first interview since being fired from his post.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Mandelson said he regretted believing Epstein’s account after the financier’s 2008 conviction and described his continued association with Epstein as “misplaced loyalty.”

However, he said he would not personally apologize to victims, arguing that responsibility lay with a wider system that failed to protect them.

“I want to apologise for a system that refused to hear their voices and did not give them the protection they were entitled to expect,” Mandelson said. “That system gave him protection and not them.”

In the interview, Mandelson also said he never witnessed inappropriate behavior while spending time with Epstein and claimed he was “kept separate” from Epstein’s sexual activities because he is gay.

U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said Mandelson’s refusal to apologize directly to victims was a missed opportunity.

“It would have gone a long way for Peter to have apologized to the victims,” she said, adding that she would not have maintained contact with someone in Epstein’s position.

Mandelson was dismissed as ambassador in September 2025 after emails emerged showing he sent supportive messages to Epstein following his conviction for soliciting a minor.

Mandelson said during the BBC interview that the emails were a “shock” and that he no longer possessed them at the time of his appointment.

Asked whether he deserved to be fired, Mandelson said he understood the decision and had no intention of reopening the issue.