Mandelson-Starmer latest: Rayner ‘warned PM’ over former Labour minister’s Epstein links after police search homes

The Epstein files reveal not only a devastating breach of trust, but also the final act of a long political psychodrama.

Donald Macintyre It reveals how a man so adept at risk management undertook a move that could destroy even a government, as well as his own career, and suggests that the answers lie deep within a life shaped by a fatal attraction to wealth and influence.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown said Lord Mandelson’s alleged lies during his appointment as US ambassador “do not explain what happened”.

Mr Brown told BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is a systematic failure to conduct appropriate scrutiny, to go through appropriate procedures and, in my view, to hold public hearings for anyone who would be in a senior position representing the British government.”

Instead, he suggested there should be US-style confirmation hearings for new government ministers and senior appointments.

The Metropolitan police confirmed in a statement that searches at two of Lord Mandelson’s properties were now complete.

Deputy assistant commissioner Hayley Sewart, of the Metropolitan Police, said: “I can confirm officers from the Met’s Central Crime Specialist team carried out searches at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area and the other in the Camden area. “The searches were in relation to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offenses involving a 72-year-old man.

“No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing. This will be a complex investigation requiring significant further evidence collection and analysis. It will take some time to conduct this work thoroughly and we will not be providing any ongoing comment.”

Starmer faces pressure from his own party to resign as prime minister over Lord Mandelson’s appointment.

“I think he needs to seriously consider his position,” Labour’s backbencher Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson told Times Radio.

“It’s on the line and we have to think about the interests of the country and the party. We have to consider what could happen, that the stability of the country could be at risk.”

Last September, Starmer fired Mandelson from his post as US ambassador, but he remained in the Labor Party.

Newly released emails from the Epstein files suggest that Mandelson sent a memo to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009 written to Brown about possible asset sales and tax changes in the United Kingdom, and in 2010 gave Epstein advance notice of a 500 billion euro ($590 billion) bailout by the European Union.

These new revelations have prompted Starmer’s opponents, and even those in his own party, to question his decision. While polls suggest that Starmer is already a very unpopular name among the British public, some MPs also say that Starmer’s position is under threat.

Mandelson, who resigned from Starmer’s Labor Party on Sunday and left his post in the upper house of parliament on Tuesday, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Police launched their investigation on Tuesday after receiving allegations of misconduct in public office, including a referral from the government.

After the investigation into Mandelson was announced, the government said it was “ready to provide whatever support and assistance the police require.”

While angry Labor MPs and the country await bloodshed over Lord Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, the only thing keeping Keir Starmer in office is the uncertainty over who will replace him; but this situation may change.

The Independent’s Sonia Sodha shares her opinion: