Mandelson facing police probe over Epstein emails as he quits House of Lords
Peter Mandelson faces a police investigation after Sir Keir Starmer handed police a dossier of extraordinary emails suggesting his disgraced colleague leaked sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein.
In a stunning attack on the former minister, the prime minister accused Lord Mandelson of “letting his country down” and warned that more dire revelations could emerge in the scandal that has shaken Labor and British politics.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown also wrote a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley containing “information relevant to his investigation into Lord Mandelson’s disclosure of market-sensitive and confidential government information” to Epstein when he was serving as business secretary in his government following the financial crash in 2008.
Sir Keir has ordered a new government review of all contacts between the disgraced pedophile financier and Lord Mandelson during Mr Brown’s time as business secretary. He also asked officials to draft legislation that would strip Lord Mandelson of his title “as quickly as possible.”
Hours later, the Lord Speaker announced that the former UK ambassador to Washington, who had already left the Labor Party over email tranches, would stand down from the House of Lords.
The Metropolitan Police is expected to announce on Tuesday evening that Lord Mandelson is being investigated for suspected abuse of public office. Times reported.
Sir Keir is expected to come under further pressure on Wednesday as the Conservatives try to hold a binding vote in the House of Commons to force ministers to reveal details of the review carried out before Lord Mandelson was appointed US ambassador last year.
On another day with major developments:
Downing Street confirmed the Cabinet Office had passed the material to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday amid concerns that security measures relating to “highly sensitive government information” had been “compromised”.
The Met Police are currently investigating reports of alleged misconduct in a public office in relation to the alleged leak of sensitive information. However, it appears that the new file was handed over at the instigation of the government and was not requested by the police.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “An initial review of documents released by the US Department of Justice in relation to Jeffrey Epstein… found that they contained possibly market-sensitive information relating to the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent official actions to stabilize the economy.”
“Only individuals acting in an official capacity had access to this information and there were strict processing conditions in place to ensure that no one who could potentially benefit financially from this information could access it. “These security measures had apparently been compromised.
“In light of this information, the Cabinet Office has passed this material on to the police.”
Sir Keir told his cabinet he was “horrified” by what had been revealed in the Epstein files in the past few days.
He said the allegation that highly sensitive government information had been passed was disgraceful, adding that he had not been assured that the full information had yet been revealed.
After bank statements for 2003 and 2004 showed he had received payments totaling $75,000 from the financier, he added that the public saying a politician could not remember significant sums of money was “nonsense” and risked weakening voters’ faith in politics.
Before announcing his retirement from the Lords, Lord Mandelson told Sir Keir’s cabinet that the government “must work quickly and go further in the Lords, including the legislature if necessary” to remove him.
Number 10 said authorities were drafting legislation that would allow him to be stripped of his rank “as quickly as possible”, in what is understood to be a timeline of weeks rather than months. Downing Street also said the Prime Minister believed the Lords should have a mechanism to “remove violators more quickly”.
The latest installment of documents released by the US Department of Justice shows internal discussions were sent to Epstein from the heart of the UK government in the wake of the global financial crisis. Lord Mandelson insisted that Epstein’s money did not influence his actions in government.
On Monday Lord Mandelson admitted his partner had accepted funds from Epstein for an osteopathy course. But he rejected the claim that this left him open to allegations of bribery.
In an interview with TimesDuring the interview, which lasted several days, he suggested that he still thought he had a future in British public life, saying that “hiding under a rock would be a disproportionate response to a handful of misguided historical emails that I deeply regret sending.”
As pressure mounts on Lord Mandelson to resign from the Lordships, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC earlier on Tuesday that Lord Mandelson’s actions amounted to “treason on many levels”.
Calls continue for him to be removed from the Privy Council, which advises the monarch.
On Monday, Mr Brown revealed he had asked for an investigation into “the sale of assets arising from the banking collapse and related communications between Lord Mandelson and Mr Epstein” five months ago, after emails between the pair assessing the state of the UK economy in the wake of the financial crisis suggested the government had “sellable assets” that could be sold to the private sector to reduce debt.
Mr Brown said he was told there was “no record of any communication between Epstein and Lord Mandelson on the matter”.
Asked whether the new internal review would look again at questions asked by Mr Brown, No 10 said “all” contact between the two men would be taken into account.
