LORD Peter Mandelson was in contact with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein as late as 2016, according to a trove of newly released emails.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was forced to sack the Labour grandee as British ambassador to the US in September after the extent of his friendship with the sex offender was revealed.

Emails disclosed then showed that Lord Mandelson was sending supportive messages to Epstein up until 2010 – including after the latter was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Correspondence from six years later was published on Wednesday, among thousands of documents from Epstein’s estate by the US house oversight committee.

Among them is one showing Mandelson warning Epstein to decline an interview request on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in 2011.

The Scottish National Party said today that the fresh revelation “begs the question as to why Keir Starmer is so determined to keep this disgraced figure in the House of Lords?”

SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart MP said: “Until Keir Starmer follows the example of the King and acts to remove Peter Mandelson from the House of Lords and the public payroll, this scandal is nowhere near its end.”