Writing in The Critic, Dalrymple examines Lord Mandelson’s statement following new revelations of his association with Jeffrey Epstein, marveling at the former minister’s talent for producing language that can be read as either denial or confession but commits to neither.
Is this denial or confession? It is something between the two: denial if it is taken as confession and confession if taken as denial. No wonder Mandelson has had such a glittering career, even if it has now the glitter of the fish rotting by moonlight.