Epstein Documents Reveal Lord Young’s Direct Contact with Ghislaine Maxwell

The Free Speech Union founder previously claimed he only “bumped into” Maxwell at parties, but new emails suggest a closer relationship.

Newly released documents reveal that Lord Toby Young maintained personal written contact with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, contradicting his previous claims regarding their relationship.

Young is best known for being the founder of the Free Speech Union (FSU), an organisation that claims to be a “non-partisan” defender of freedom of speech, but has defended racist and far-right views. The FSU previously defended Lucy Connolly, who was convicted of a hate crime for posting on her X account “Set fire to all the fucking hotels”, refering to hotels housing asylum seekers, during the 2024 summer riots.

Young has also publicly expressed sympathy for biological determinism, appearing on the podcast of race science outlet Aporia in 2023, Young was asked for his most controversial opinion. “Expressing my belief that variations in outcomes between different humans are more than a little due to genetic variation,” he replied.

After being nominated by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch for a life peerage in 2024, Young was inducted into the House of Lords in January 2025.

In 2020 it was revealed that Young’s name and contact details were in Jeffery Epstein’s “Little Black Book”, a private contact list kept by Epstein.

Young published an article in The Spectator in 2020 to address the rumours, in which he stated that he had “no idea” how he ended up in Epstein’s little black book.

Young theorised that he ended up in Epstein’s little black-book because he vaguely knew Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted sidekick, in the mid-90s, downplaying his contact with her as simply bumping into her at the occasional New York party.

But the latest Epstein files release raise questions about Young’s association with Epstein and Maxwell.

In an email from Toby Young to Ghislaine Maxwell, dated Monday 5th November 2001, Young writes to Maxwell simply saying “From your lips to God’s ears, as they say in your part of the world.” In another email from Young in February 2002, this time to a redacted recipient, he writes that he is distributing an unpublished article about his appearance on the BBC’s The Weakest Link, where he fears he “made a total tit” of himself.

When reached for comment, Young confirmed both emails were sent to Maxwell but insisted that the existence of the emails do not “contradict or undermine” his previous accounts. While acknowledging the messages, he reiterated that he “never met Jeffrey Epstein” nor visited his properties.

These releases do not imply any wrongdoing on Young’s part. However, it would appear that Young has downplayed the regularity of his contact with Maxwell. Given that Young sits in the House of Lords, it is in the interest of the public that Young’s association with Epstein’s circle is scrutinised.