No10 vows to 'support' police probe into Mandelson leaks to Epstein
Keir Starmer is struggling to contain the storm over Lord Mandelson today as he pledged 'support' for a police probe into leaks of government secrets.
Scotland Yard has confirmed it is looking into allegations the ex-Cabinet minister committed misconduct in public office by sending 'market sensitive' No10 emails to Jeffrey Epstein.
Meanwhile, MPs are ramping up pressure on Sir Keir to find a way of stripping Lord Mandelson of his peerage - as well as removing him from the privy council that advises the King.
However, the New Labour architect - who was appointed as US ambassador by the PM barely a year ago - has sounded defiance in an interview. He insisted he was simply 'too trusting' of Epstein and denied that his career in public life was over.
Epstein files exposes extent of Mandelson's close ties
The extraordinarily close ties between Lord Mandelson - which continued long after he was jailed for [sexual intercourse] offences - have been further exposed after the US released another massive tranche of Epstein evidence.
Journalists have been sifting through more than three million new documents, with Lord Mandelson mentioned nearly 6,000 times.
They appear to show that the peer passed on highly sensitive advice given to then-PM Gordon Brown at the height of the Credit Crunch.
It included emails with key Downing Street aides and ministers discussing a proposed £20billion of asset sales to shore up the country, as well as Labour's tax policy plans.
The information would have been valuable to any bank or financial institution. The document was forwarded by Lord Mandelson to Epstein with the comment: 'Interesting note that's gone to the PM.'
Another email, part of three million documents released on Friday by the US Department of Justice, saw Lord Mandelson give Epstein advance notice of a €500billion ($590bn) bailout of the Eurozone, potentially allowing the [disgraced] financier to cash in ahead of the deal being formally announced the following day.
Mandelson tipped off Epstein before Brown’s resignation
Lord Mandelson also tipped off his friend the night before Mr Brown resigned from No 10.
The trove of evidence also features bank statements appearing to show Epstein sending Lord Mandelson tens of thousands of dollars in 2003-2004, although the peer has questioned whether they were real.
The disgraced financier - who committed [death] in prison - also seems to have helped Lord Mandelson land a lucrative job after leaving government, and paid £10,000 ($13.6K) for his partner Reinaldo to do an osteopathy course.
Lord Mandelson has insisted nothing in the files shows he has broken the law.
A clearly furious Mr Brown said yesterday: 'I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to investigate the disclosure of confidential and market sensitive information from the then Business Department during the global financial crisis.'
He also revealed that on September 10 last – the day Sir Keir said he had 'confidence' in Lord Mandelson as the Epstein scandal swirled once again – he wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, calling for an investigation into the peer.
However, after two months he was told no records could be found, with Mr Brown questioning the 'intensity' of the efforts to identify wrongdoing.
Baroness Harman today joined calls for Lord Mandelson to be removed from the Privy Council and prevented from returning to the House of Lords.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she believes Labour's manifesto pledge to remove disgraced members from the House of Lords will be 'got on with', adding: 'In the meantime, I think the Prime Minister could be advising the King to stop him from being a privy counsellor.
'And I also think that, he's on leave of absence, at the moment, from the House of Lords, having stepped out of the House of Lords to be our ambassador, and I think it would be good for the Lords to pass a motion to say that he's not to reapply to come back in.'
Other MPs have insisted Sir Keir must pass a law to remove Lord Mandelson's peerage - something that has rarely been done. He is currently on a voluntary leave of absence from the House, and has resigned his Labour Party membership.
Pressure mounts over role in ambassadorial appointment
Sir Keir's chief of staff and closest aide Morgan McSweeney is under intense scrutiny over his role in championing Lord Mandelson's disastrous appointment as US ambassador.
The Metropolitan Police received referrals from both Reform UK and the SNP asking detectives to investigate the peer, who on Sunday quit the Labour Party to avoid causing 'further embarrassment'.
The force said last night that detectives were reviewing them to 'determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation'.
A Government spokesman said: 'It is rightly for the police to determine whether to investigate and the Government stands ready to provide whatever support and assistance the police need.'
Downing Street earlier said Sir Keir had asked Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald to conduct 'an urgent review' looking at 'all available information regarding Mandelson's contacts with Epstein during his period as a government minister'.
In his Times interview published last night, Lord Mandelson claimed that he was 'too trusting' of Epstein, who he described as 'muck that you can't get off your shoe… Like dog muck, the smell never goes away'.
But he made it clear he has no intention of disappearing from public life, saying: 'Hiding under a rock would be a disproportionate response to a handful of misguided historical emails, which I regret sending.'
And he said none of the Epstein files 'indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part' as he refused to give evidence to a US Congress inquiry.
Lord Peter Mandelson finally apologizes to Jeffrey Epstein's victims
Lord Peter Mandelson has finally apologized to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for 'believing him over them' and remaining friends with the convicted [disgraced financier].
The grovelling statement came amid fierce criticism for an interview over the weekend when he refused to apologize for his own conduct, and made the extraordinary claim Epstein's depravity had been hidden from him because he is gay.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight on Monday evening, the Labour peer admitted he had not wanted to be 'held responsible' for Epstein's crimes, of which he was 'ignorant, not indifferent'.
He said: 'I was wrong to believe him following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologize unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.'
Lord Mandelson was sacked from his post as US ambassador last September after sickening revelations about his relationship with Epstein.
Emails showed the pair had been in contact after the financier's first conviction in 2008, when he pleaded guilty to soliciting girls as young as 14 for [rough trade], with Mandelson firing off messages of support and advice.
In his first TV interview since his dismissal as ambassador, Mandelson told BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he did not apologize for maintaining the friendship, insisting he would have done so if he were 'in any way complicit or culpable'.
