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In late 2018, Steve Bannon, formerly a top aide to Donald Trump, was in the UK preparing for a speech at the Oxford Union.

The event was interrupted by hundreds of protesters, and Bannon, who was due to travel that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an message: "Protesters slowed down speech don't think I can make the plane we r enroute to the airport".

Epstein responded: "There. Is a gulf air that leaves at 9:50 with a layover in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an excellent helper".

These messages were published on this week alongside more than 20,000 pages from the records of Epstein, the deceased financier convicted of sex crimes.

The disclosure by the House oversight committee includes an iMessage chat where Bannon's identity is withheld. The BBC has been able to establish his involvement by cross-referencing the timeline, events, and locations referenced.

For example, Epstein talks about arranging a jet from the UK for the unnamed individual in the messages, and commends their "Oxford speech". Bannon took part in the News Xchange conference on 14 November, and delivered the talk at the Oxford Union two days later.

Bannon, who faces no allegations of any wrongdoing, declined to comment on the request for comment.

'I'll make sure you're well looked after'

Bannon served as Trump's key advisers in the lead-up to the presidential election and during the initial phase of his presidency, but resigned from the White House in August 2017.

He has acknowledged he was making a documentary about Epstein prior to his death and allegedly has around 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his podcast earlier this year, he said: "We plan to release the series, the five-part series, next year - at the start of next year."

But the newly released materials indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein extended than being his biographer, with the disgraced financier at times seeming to act like a personal assistant.

A short time before the conversation in which Epstein appeared to have booked a charter jet for Bannon, Epstein said: "what's it like to have the highest-paid booking agent in history ".

Bannon thanked him: "U r quite capable assistant", to which Epstein replied "Therapies. Excluded".

Discussing a trip to "Abu Dhabi" in another message, Epstein told Bannon: "I'll make sure you're taken care of."

UK Politics Discussed in Exchanges

The published communications also show Bannon and Epstein discussing UK politics in that year.

On the same day his speech at the Oxford Union, Bannon messaged Epstein: "I've gotten pulled into the Brexit thing this day with Farage, Boris and Mogg."

Then, in what seems like a allusion to the UK prime minister, the embattled UK prime minister at the period, he continued: "The guys are trying to move on. May today / tomorrow…"

Epstein suggested Bannon: "I think staying as much as you can uk. Ideal- so others get the commitment of your follow-up."

Soon after, Epstein inquired: "Will Theresa may remain in power". Bannon answered: "It seems unlikely BUT the guys here have little courage" and noted "Boris ; Michael Gove; Jacob Rees-Mogg; David Davis - someone has to take charge".

Theresa May was eventually toppled in 2019 after surviving two votes of no confidence in late 2018.

A representative for Reform UK informed media: "Farage has never been in a gathering with Steve Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Johnson." And there is no evidence that encounter took place.

The Congress will vote next week on whether the Department of Justice should release all its files related to its investigation into Epstein, who passed away in jail in that year.

Attention in Epstein's associations with powerful figures was renewed this week after the publication of more than 20,000 pages from his archives.

A portion of those referenced the former president, who has consistently rejected any wrongdoing. The president was a friend of Epstein's for a long time, but claims they parted ways in the 2000s, two years prior to Epstein was initially charged.