Met police launch investigation into alleged Mandelson-Epstein email leaks – as it happened
Police begin criminal investigation into Mandelson allegations
A criminal investigation has been launched into allegations Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, police said on Tuesday evening.
Commander Ella Marriott, from the Metropolitan Police, said: “Following the further release of millions of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice, the Met received a number of reports into alleged misconduct in public office including a referral from the UK Government.
“I can confirm that the Metropolitan Police has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences.
“The Met will continue to assess all relevant information brought to our attention as part of this investigation and won’t be commenting any further at this time.”
Mandelson has previously said: “I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction [in 2008 for procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute] and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.”
Key events
Police to review latest claim about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein
British police are to review fresh allegations that Jeffrey Epstein provided Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with a woman to have sex with at the Royal Lodge in 2010.
The woman has claimed she spent the night at the then prince’s residence in Windsor, her US lawyer, Brad Edwards, said after the allegations surfaced over the weekend. The woman, who is not British, was in her 20s at the time, and was later given a tour of Buckingham Palace, it is further alleged.
A Thames Valley police spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes. We are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.
“We take any reports of sexual crimes extremely seriously and encourage anyone with information to come forward. At this time, these allegations have not been reported to Thames Valley police by either the lawyer [of the woman] or their client.”
Thames Valley is looking at the case as the Royal Lodge is in the area covered by the force. The review does not necessarily mean a criminal investigation will take place.
Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied wrongdoing.
Jeffrey Epstein described Peter Mandelson as “devious” after lobbying a bank to underwrite a mining project launched by their mutual friend Nat Rothschild, emails included in the latest tranche of Epstein files suggest, writes Daniel Boffey and Emine Sinmaz.
In April 2010, the then business secretary appears to have contacted banker Jes Staley, then at JP Morgan, from his personal email account in what appears to be an attempt to secure funding for Rothschild, Mandelson’s longtime friend.
Mandelson wrote to say that he was pleased to hear that JP Morgan was “planning” to underwrite a £700m investment vehicle being launched by Rothschild, a scion of the banking dynasty.
“I’ve been following my friend Nat Rothschild’s plans to list a vehicle on the [London Stock Exchange] and I’m very happy that JPM are now planning to get involved as book runners alongside [Credit Suisse],” Mandelson wrote to Staley. “I think it’s a great idea from what I see of the global mining business (and their prices). I hope it all goes well. Best Easter greetings to you and your family”.
Mandelson appears to have shared the communication with Epstein, who was a close friend of Staley’s, adding that he hoped “Jes can send warm response to this informal email”. Epstein responded: “You are sooooooooooooooo devious”.
The two-child limit has moved a step closer to being scrapped after legislation cleared the first stage in Parliament.
The policy, introduced under the Conservatives in 2017, was branded a political exercise in division between the “deserving and undeserving poor” during a debate in the Commons ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
MPs voted 458 to 104, majority 354,to scrap the policy, ensuring the Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill passed at second reading.
It will be further scrutinised by MPs and peers before it can become law, but the government has said it wants to ditch the two-child limit from April.
The policy currently restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households, and campaigners have argued 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day.
The change, if the Bill passes into law, would mean families can receive the child element of UC for all children, regardless of family size.
On a brisk Monday evening in May 2010, Gordon Brown stood on the steps of Downing Street and delivered one of the most dramatic announcements of the New Labour era: his resignation as UK prime minister, writes Kalyeena Makortoff and Graeme Wearden.
The decision came days after a nail-biting general election that left no single party with a clear run at No 10. Brown kept his decision, which followed days of political wrangling, to a tight inner circle. Nick Clegg, who would go on to serve as deputy prime minister of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, was formally told of Brown’s resignation only 10 minutes before the announcement.
But across the pond, a man named Jeffrey Epstein, a well-connected financier and convicted child sex offender, had been briefed hours before. “Finally got him to go today …” an email believed to be sent by Peter Mandelson informed Epstein on Monday morning.
The apparent tip-off, revealed in the latest tranche of the Epstein files, not only gave Epstein an inside track on the UK’s political future, but also on large moves that were to ripple through global markets.
Those included further wild swings in the value of the British pound, which had already been volatile in the lead-up to the 6 May general election. It fell 2.2% on the day of the vote, its worst day in over a year, illustrating how concerned traders were about the risk of a hung parliament and political instability.
On the day of Mandelson’s apparent tip-off to Epstein, the pound rose by more than two cents to $1.505, before losing all its gains as Brown’s resignation – and his plan for Labour to hold coalition talks with Clegg’s Liberal Democrats – sent shock waves through Westminster. Sterling would gain back a cent a day later, as the Lib Dems struck a deal with the Tories, handing the keys of No 10 to the Conservative leader David Cameron.
While there is no evidence that anyone traded off the leaks, it is just one example of the kind of inside information that Mandelson is alleged to have shared with Epstein, according to the latest batch of documents released by the US Department of Justice this week.
The government said it will provide any support the Metropolitan Police needs in its criminal investigation into allegations Lord Peter Mandelson leaked confidential information to Jeffrey Epstein.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Government stands ready to provide whatever support and assistance the police need.”
Badenoch added: “He [Starmer] knew all of this long before the investigations were required and he still did that.
“He has a lot of questions to answer and he should not try and distract anyone by talking about removing peerages or investigations.
“The Prime Minister himself should be answering questions about how this happened.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said it is “right” there is a full criminal investigation into allegations Peter Mandelson passed market sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein, but told broadcasters it “should not distract from the fact that the Prime Minister appointed a man who was the close friend and associate of a notorious and convicted paedophile”.
Police begin criminal investigation into Mandelson allegations
A criminal investigation has been launched into allegations Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, police said on Tuesday evening.
Commander Ella Marriott, from the Metropolitan Police, said: “Following the further release of millions of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice, the Met received a number of reports into alleged misconduct in public office including a referral from the UK Government.
“I can confirm that the Metropolitan Police has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former Government Minister, for misconduct in public office offences.
“The Met will continue to assess all relevant information brought to our attention as part of this investigation and won’t be commenting any further at this time.”
Mandelson has previously said: “I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction [in 2008 for procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute] and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.”
Lord Mandelson to face criminal investigation
A criminal investigation has been launched into allegations that Lord Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein.
Files released by the US Department of Justice apparently showed Mandelson allegedly passing material to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration as it dealt with the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath.
The Cabinet Office had passed material to the police after an initial review of documents released as part of the Epstein files found they contained “likely market-sensitive information” and official handling safeguards had been “compromised”.
The Metropolitan police are to formally launch a criminal investigation into allegations that Peter Mandelson leaked Downing Street emails and market sensitive information to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Guardian understands.
Early evening summary
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Reform UK has been branded racist for arguing that the two-child benefit cap should be lifted only for those families where both parents are British-born and in full-time work, PA Media reports. The Green MP Siân Berry told MPs she wanted to “utterly reject the racist agenda of the Reform members’ objections”. Meanwhile, Conservative former minister Kit Malthouse said Reform is calling for “open discrimination” and pointed out that the policy would affect his own children and the children of sitting Reform MPs. He said: “There is something grotesque about seeking legislation which seeks to downgrade the citizenship of your own children.” Reform MP Sarah Pochin backed her party’s policy, arguing that removing the two-child benefit cap entirely rewards those who “play the system”. They were speaking as the Commons debated the government bill to get rid of the two-child benefit cap. Ministers say the move will take 450,000 children out of poverty. Reform UK announced that, instead of spending £3bn on getting rid of the cap, they would keep it and spend the money instead on financial support for pubs. (See 2.18pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
In November last year Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced plans to change UK settlement rules which result in many migrants having to wait twice as long as they do now – 10 years, not five years – before they can qualify for indefinite leave to remain.
There was relatively little Labour protest at the time but, as Emilio Casalicchio and Noah Keate report in their London Playbook briefing for Politico, anger about the plans erupted yesterday in a debate in Westminster Hall.
They report:
Dozens of backbenchers lined up last night to hammer the government in public, over a proposal to double the settlement wait to a full decade, and up to two decades for some. People who arrived on post-Brexit health and social care visas will need to wait 15 years, for example.
Labour MPs said it would be “un-British” to “move the goalposts,” while warning the plan could hobble public services, undermine businesses and damage the U.K. reputation abroad. The criticisms were aired from across the Labour movement during a packed Westminster Hall debate.
Folkestone MP Tony Vaughan said the proposals are a “breach of trust” for migrants who arrived under existing rules. “It makes Britain look unpredictable and like a country that does not keep its word,” he said.
Former minister and Starmer pal Tulip Siddiq said it would be “shameful” to row back on existing rules, while Labour ex-frontbencher Gareth Thomas said the proposals “would be the height of unfairness.”
Here is video of Michael Forsyth, the lord speaker, telling peers that Peter Mandelson is retiring.
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