Peter Mandelson could now face a police investigation after newly released emails suggest he forwarded sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein while still a minister.
The latest tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice, part of the so-called Epstein files, appeared to show the financier and convicted paedophile was sent internal discussions from the heart of the UK government in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Both Reform UK and the SNP have reported the 2009 email to the police.
Gordon Brown, who was prime minister at the time, called it “wholly unacceptable”.
Documents suggest Lord Mandelson forwarded Epstein an internal No 10 email sent to Mr Brown by one of his special advisers. The note, which included an assessment of the state of the UK economy in the wake of the financial crisis, suggested the government had “saleable assets” that could be sold to the private sector to reduce debt.
Epstein, whose business relied on knowledge of global finance, had been convicted of child prostitution offences the previous year. Lord Mandelson was then the business secretary.
Mr Brown revealed he asked for an investigation five months ago into “the sale of assets arising from the banking collapse and communications about them between Lord Mandelson and Mr Epstein”. He said he was told that there was “no record of any communication between Epstein and Lord Mandelson on the issue”.
It came as:
- Sir Keir Starmer said Lord Mandelson should no longer be a member of the House of Lords
- Britain’s top civil servant was ordered to conduct an urgent review of all communications between Lord Mandelson and Epstein during his time as a minister
- Nick Butler, the special adviser who sent the leaked email, said he was “disgusted by the breach of trust, presumably intended to give Epstein the chance to make money”
- Emails suggested Lord Mandelson tried to arrange a tour of Downing Street for Epstein’s goddaughter
- Epstein joked that Lord Mandelson marrying Princess Beatrice could be considered incest
In a statement on Monday, Mr Brown said he has “now written to ask for a wider and more intensive enquiry to take place into the wholly unacceptable disclosure of government papers and information during the period when the country was battling the global financial crisis”.
In another exchange from 2009, Lord Mandelson appears to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers’ bonuses.
Bank statements from 2003 and 2004 also appear to show he received payments totalling $75,000 from the financier. Epstein is also said to have paid for an osteopathy course for Lord Mandelson’s husband.
It came as calls intensified for Lord Mandelson to be stripped of his peerage. Sir Keir does not have the power to strip Lord Mandelson of his peerage, but has called on the Lords to “work with the government to modernise disciplinary procedures in the House”.
Under current arrangements, a new law would be required to remove a peerage, something that last happened more than 100 years ago to deal with members of the nobility who sided with the Germans in the First World War.
No 10 sources told The Independent that the government is considering using the Lords conduct committee as a route to removing him, saying that this may be a “quicker way of doing it given pace is a priority”.
The conduct committee can recommend that a member be expelled or suspended for breaching the code of conduct, which, if approved by the House, removes that peer.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “The prime minister believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title. However, the prime minister does not have the power to remove it.
“He is calling on those in the Lords to work with the government to modernise the disciplinary procedures in the House to allow the easier removal of peers who have brought the House into disrepute.”
The official added: “Sir Keir Starmer has asked the cabinet secretary to review all available information regarding Peter Mandelson’s contact with Jeffrey Epstein during his period as a government minister.”
Tax expert Dan Neidle, who first uncovered the 2009 leak, said Lord Mandelson’s alleged actions may have broken the law.
He told Times Radio: “The question is, is this just scandalous or does it go beyond that? Is this actually misconduct in public office, which is a criminal offence?”
Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones said a criminal probe was a “matter for the prosecution services and the police”.
And speaking in the Commons, he added: “The undeclared exchange of funds, the passing on of government information, let alone the fact that those exchanges were to a convicted paedophile, are wholly unconscionable.
“And the house will know that if any of those activities were to take place today, ministers would be swiftly relieved of their duties and could be … removed from their constituencies too.”
One email exchange in the latest tranche of documents suggests that, while business secretary, Lord Mandelson was lobbying to change a tax on bankers’ bonuses, with encouragement from Epstein. It came at the time the so-called “super tax” was being introduced by chancellor Alistair Darling to clamp down on bank profits being used to pay large bonuses.
An email dated 15 December 2009, which appears to be from Epstein, reads: “Any real chance of making the tax only on the cash portion of the bankers bonus.” The reply, apparently from Lord Mandelson, says “trying hard to amend” and adds: “Treasury digging in but I am on case.”
Two days later, an email discussion indicates Lord Mandelson encouraged JP Morgan’s boss Jamie Dimon to call Mr Darling and “mildly threaten” him.
The documents also suggest that, in the last days of Mr Brown’s government, Lord Mandelson gave Epstein advanced notice of a €500bn EU bank bailout.
In another email exchange revealed in the latest tranche of documents, Epstein appears to joke that Lord Mandelson could marry Princess Beatrice, meaning the “queen would have a queen as a grandson”.
At the time, the eldest daughter of Andrew-Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson was 21 years old.
In an apparent email exchange on 5 October 2009, Epstein told Mandelson he could “marry princess beatrice” to which the Labour peer appears to have replied: “Remember, I am already her Lord President.”
In response, Epstein wrote: “Does that make it incest, how exciting.”
Lord Mandelson was in a long-term relationship with Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now his husband. He was sacked as the ambassador to Washington last year after revelations of his continued contact with Epstein even after the latter’s guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.
Lord Mandelson wrote to the general secretary of Labour on Sunday to say he was resigning his party membership to avoid causing “further embarrassment”.
He added that he wanted to “repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now”.
