'Finally got him to go today': Mandelson's emails to Epstein on Gordon Brown

Peter Mandelson's skills as a political operator were so highly prized by successive Labour prime ministers that they were apparently prepared to overlook past scandals to hand him a series of senior roles.

Yet the release of emails by the US Department of Justice appear to show Mandelson himself was receiving advice on political strategy from US financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Crucially, Lord Mandelson appears to have kept Epstein informed of developments in the immediate aftermath of the 2010 general election, as Gordon Brown made a doomed attempt to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

On 9 May, Lord Mandelson appears to tell Epstein: "GB now having 'secret' talks with [Lib Dem leader Nick] Clegg in Foreign Office".

And then, at 09.07am on Monday 10 May, he appears to tell Epstein: "Finally got him to go today".

Hours later, Brown announced that he would be standing down as Labour leader but continuing as prime minister.

Brown's resignation as Labour leader, it was later claimed, was the price demanded by Clegg to begin coalition talks with Labour.

In the end, these talks went nowhere and Clegg formed a coalition government with David Cameron's Conservatives.

Lord Mandelson has been approached for comment about these email exchanges, which appear to give an almost minute-by-minute account of the five days of coalition wrangling, which gripped the nation after there was no clear general election winner.

On 8 May, two days after the election, while talks were taking place between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, an email appears to show Lord Mandelson telling Epstein he'd spent "all day first with [Gordon Brown] then with Libs. They are all pretty bonkers…"

Epstein suggests "stressing" in negotiations that the Liberal Democrat plus Labour vote is "15m v 10 million votes".

Later the same day, the financier suggests "why not let tories govern with minority, no coalition" suggesting they won't be able to get "anything done".

It seems that Lord Mandelson, whose name and email address are redacted for most but not all of the messages, replies "cos GB thinks British economy will collapse without [him] at helm".

Epstein also passed on advice from someone referred to as "jess" that "supporting gb will be seen as bad form commercially, he has lost the confidence of the public".

He added that "jpm" [investment bank JP Morgan] is "very concerned that the pound could be the next currency to falter. and big time. uncertainty is not in your favor".

At the time Greece was seeking a bailout from the EU amid its debt crisis.

Lord Mandelson appears to reply "agree but method and timing is all" saying he's "getting messages both from people saying to take GB out and keep him there to do deal with Libs. Ideally [should] do both. But cannot see how".

On 11 May, with negotiations still ongoing, Epstein tells Lord Mandelson "a mere opposition party, is not in your interest" to which Lord Mandelson seems to reply "Not sure in my interest to father a mutual suicide pact".

Epstein then suggests making "a real offer you can live with…if clegg won't agree, it would be on his shoulders" and if he does "youve bought time".

Hours later Epstein receives an email saying "It's over. I am out of govt at the end of the day…"

Later the same day, as Lord Mandelson appears to say he is attending a "farewell" event for Gordon Brown, Epstein offers a "big hug".

The email exchanges are peppered with gossipy and sometimes indiscreet comments.

On 6 May 2010, as UK voters went to the polls, Epstein asks his friend how it was going, to which Mandelson apparently replies "we are praying for a hung parliament. Alternatively, a well hung young man".

Brown's decision to bring Lord Mandelson back into government, in October 2008, stunned Westminster.

The pair had once been inseparable as they worked with Tony Blair to create New Labour.

But Brown had never forgiven Lord Mandelson for what he saw as his betrayal in backing Blair for the party leadership in 1994.

Explaining his decision to bring his bitter rival back into the fold as business secretary and a member of the House of Lords, Brown said: "Serious people are needed for serious times."

The appointment was seen as a daring gamble by Brown, whose government was floundering in the face of the biggest economic crisis in a generation.

Lord Mandelson was a divisive figure who had twice been forced to resign from Tony Blair's government.

Brown hoped that his old foe's political nous and experience as an EU trade commissioner would add much-needed heft to his government's handling of the global economic crisis.

"We are bringing together the best team possible to deal with the difficulties [that we face]," Brown told reporters.

Lord Mandelson acknowledged that the pair had had their "ups and downs" but said they were now "joined at the hip".

As he bowled up Downing Street to start his new job, he joked to astonished reporters that it was "third time lucky".

In June 2009, Lord Mandelson's status was enhanced further when Brown gave him the honorary title first secretary of state, making him the de-facto deputy prime minister.

In that same month, the DoJ emails suggest Lord Mandelson forwarded an internal memo on selling off government-held assets in order to raise public funds to Epstein.

The Cabinet Office has referred material to the police after an initial review "found that they contain likely market sensitive information surrounding the 2008 financial crash and official activities thereafter to stabilise the economy".

Part of Lord Mandelson's mystique - and one of the reasons he is despised by some in the Labour movement - is his love of political intrigue, gossip and plots.

And this appears to be on full display in his alleged exchanges with Epstein.

In early 2010, he appears to be discussing removing Brown as Labour leader or running for leader himself.

On 6 February, he tells Epstein: "If I continue as now people will say I am one of the few (only) big figures. And I have to deliver a reasonable campaign that only he [expletive]'s up. And that I perform well in the campaign itself. That I was bigger than the lot of them."

Epstein allegedly replies: "lets not dwell on him, i am only interested in how this plays out for you."

Lord Mandelson allegedly says: "Perhaps but either way - direct or not - he cannot take the truth. He needs 5 years of therapy..."