Lord Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
JACQUELIN MAGNAYListen to this article
3 min
Former UK ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, is pictured as he leaves his residence in central London. Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Picture: AFP
Gift this article
0 Comments
Make us preferred on Google31 minutes ago.
Updated 2 minutes ago
Lord Peter Mandelson, the Jeffrey Epstein-associate inside Westminster who highly recommended the then Duke of York to be the UK trade envoy, has been arrested.
Lord Mandelson, in a situation similar to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s experience last week, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly sharing information with the US financier Epstein.
He was led away from his London home by Metropolitan Police plain clothes officers this morning AEDT as part of Scotland Yard’s investigation he allegedly passed sensitive government and market information to Epstein when Lord Mandelson was an MP and UK business secretary.
This undated photo in an unidentified location provided by the US Justice Department shows former UK Ambassador in the US Peter Mandelson (L) and Jeffrey Epstein (R).
Police have acted after looking into the latest tranche of the Epstein Files, released by the US Department of Justice earlier this month.
The huge bundles of correspondence appeared to show that in 2009 at the time when Lord Mandelson was business secretary he acted on Epstein’s demands to amend a 50 per cent tax on bank bonuses to apply to cash and not share options.
Loaded: 76.23%
00:00 / 00:00
Peter Mandelson arrested over misconduct allegations
Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of misconduct in...
more
Lord Mandelson, whom Epstein called “Petie” also appeared to share confidential government information with Epstein about the UK economy and selling public assets to Epstein. This was at the time Epstein was under house arrest for soliciting a minor. The two had celebrated Epstein’s freedom in 2009 with bawdy correspondence. Then in May 2010 Lord Mandelson appeared to inform Epstein of a €500bn EU bailout before it was announced to the public.
Lord Mandelson was forced to resign as UK ambassador to the United States in September last year when the depth of his friendship and relationship with Epstein became apparent.
The scandal has threatened the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer who had appointed him to the diplomatic role knowing he was linked to Epstein.
Keir Starmer sees Andrew’s arrest as ‘welcome air’ taking pressure off of his situation
Sky News host Caleb Bond thinks UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer must see Andrew...
more
Separately police have spent another day searching Royal Lodge in Windsor, the former home of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was released under caution after questioning last Thursday.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and police are looking at whether he leaked confidential information to Epstein while working as Britain’s trade envoy.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York, and then known as Prince Andrew, had been originally appointed to the UK trade envoy role in 2001 at the encouragement of Lord Mandelson who told parliament the Duke of York was well qualified for the position.
Lord Mandelson’s lobbying helped persuade Queen Elizabeth to overrule the concerns of the then Prince Charles, now the King, who had doubts about his brother’s suitability for the position.
Mr Mountbatten Windsor’s appointment at the time was considered highly controversial as he was more keen on travelling the world playing golf than conducting royal duties. He stayed in the envoy role for a decade until 2011 despite civil servants and government officials complaining about his inexpert meddling, large entourages and excessive spending.
Lord Mandelson and Mr Mountbatten-Windsor have both denied any wrongdoing.
More to co
