Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor latest: Epstein may have influenced ex-duke’s appointment as trade envoy, MP says – UK Times

Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant said he wants to “manage people’s expectations” about how quickly material about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor can be released.

Responding to concerns from Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh, Sir Chris said: “I want to make sure that we move as fast as we possibly can, but I also want to make sure that justice does happen, and I don’t want to do anything that would undermine the police investigations. I hope that they will be able to move as swiftly as possible and we will certainly co-operate with them as swiftly as possible.

“It’s worth bearing in mind that the documents that might be envisaged in this are mostly 25-years-old. Some of them are a bit earlier. They may be substantial in number and many of them will be in hard copy.

“So, I hate to add to (Sir Edward’s) fears about the speed with which things may be able to happen, but we would all want to make sure that we do do all of this in a proper fashion.”

Later, he told Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper: “I am slightly trying to manage people’s expectations about timeliness, partly because of the quantity of material, and because there is a live police investigation, and I just don’t want to jeopardise that.

“If there are things that are embarrassing to the government, who cares? I want to make sure that we end up getting the proper justice that is necessary for the victims, and that means that we have to have a proper police procedure.”

Shadow secretary of state Alex Burghart has said it is “possible to identify the hand of Epstein” in Peter Mandelson’s appointent

“The truth is that the people who helped Jeffrey Epstein – who helped him by supplying him with contacts and information were the people who enabled him to become powerful,” he told the Commons.

“Those people effectively enabled him to build his net of influence, his net of abuse, and that network of power in turn enabled him to abuse more and more people.”

He added that this debate is the second within weeks to force the government to release information under a humble address.

“It is a global political scandal, a political scandal that has reached its tendrils into the operation of many governments across the west and indeed the east,” he continued.

“These revelations surrounding the relationship between Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein, just as the relationship between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein, and the arrest of both men on suspicion of misconduct in public office, make it right that questions are asked and that information is brought before this house.

“If one looks back to 2001 it is possible to identify the hand of Epstein in Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment. It has been reported that Peter Mandelson first met Epstein in the summer of 2001, Mountbatten-Windsor first met Epstein in 1999.

“Shortly after Mandelson’s first meeting in October 2001, Mountbatten-Windsor is appointed as trade envoy.”

Sir Chris Bryant has said the police will have the government’s “unwavering support” as their investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor continues.

“There is unanimous agreement across this house that those who may be guilty of mosconduct in public office should face the full force of the law,” he said. “That applies to everyone, regardless of who they are, or how they were appointed.”

He added one of the core principles of our constitutional system is the rule of law that means “everyone is equal” and “nobody is above the law”.

“I share the anger and the disgust expressed by many at the alleged behaviour of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor,” he continued. “What we are seeing now is the full, fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated by the police.”

He said the investigation will have the government’s “unwavering” support.

“Sometimes it feels to many members of the public that there is one rule for the rich and famous and one rule for the rest of us, but actually, there is only one rule: the rule of law.”

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal is “the first truly global scandal,” reaching from Britain to the White House, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.

Speaking as he opened a parliamentary debate intended to compel ministers to similarly release documents about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy on Tuesday, Sir Ed Davey said: “In many ways, this is the first truly global scandal from the White House and Silicon Valley to Oslo and Paris, but it’s also a deeply British scandal reaching right to the top of the British establishment.

“Because, can there be many people more symbolic of the rot that eats away at the British establishment than the former duke of York and special trade envoy, and (Peter Mandelson) the former business secretary, first secretary of state and ambassador to the United States.

“Their association with Epstein and their actions on his behalf, while trusted with the privilege of public office, are a stain on our country.

“We must begin to clean away that stain with the disinfectant of transparency.”

He also criticised parliamentary procedure which “barred” MPs from raising criticisms of the now former prince.

The Independent’s political reporter Athena Stavrou reports:

An MP has recalled a memory in which Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor criticised a Dolly the Sheep exhibition in front of Japanese representatives.

Liberal Democrat Monica Harding said the former prince had visited the exhibition while working as trade envoy.

“When I was working overseas for the British Council, Mountbatten-Windsor came to an exhibition that I was putting on about Dolly the Sheep which was a fine example of British scientific innovation,” she said in a debate in the Commons.

“Mountbatten stood up in front of Japanese dignitaries and business people and said this is rubbish, this is Frankenstein’s sheep.”

Speaking in the Commons, trade minister Sir Chris Bryant said Epstein’s abuse had been aided by many who “turned a blind eye” out of “greed, familiarity, or deference”.

“To my mind they too were just as complicit, and I welcome the reckoning that is coming to them now,” he said.

He added colleagues in parliament had told him their own stories of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, which he said all displayed the same pattern of “a man on a constant self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle.

“A rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest that he said he served and his own private interest,” he continued.

Ed Davey said outdated traditions meant MPs could not criticise Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and said the former prince “shamed our country and the royal family.”

He added: “For too long members of parliament were barred from even raising criticisms of him, let alone properly scrutinising his role as envoy.

“Because of the outdated tradition, the mention of any member of the royal family in this house must, in the words of the previous speaker, be ‘very rare, very sparing, and very respectful’.”

The Independent’s Political Reporter Athena Stavrou reports:

Ed Davey has stood in the Commons to begin the debate on the Liberal Democrat’s humble address motion.

Davey is seeking to use a parliamentary debate on Tuesday to compel ministers to release documents about Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy.

The Lib Dem leader said Andrew Mountbatten Windsor had “shamed our country and the royal family”, but added “for too long members of parliament were barred from criticising him”.

Keir Starmer’s spokesman confirmed he would not oppose a move in Parliament to compel ministers to release documents about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy

The official told reporters: “We are in favour of the principle of transparency.

“We can’t publish material that would jeopardise a police investigation, as you know, so that is the balancing exercise.”

Craig Prescott, a royal expert at Royal Holloway, University of London, compared it in severity to the crisis sparked by Edward VIII’s abdication to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, warning “it may not be over yet”.

The Independent’s Bryony Gooch reports: