Peter Mandelson has been arrested after he was accused of leaking Downing Street emails to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving as business secretary.
The former Labour minister and peer was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, said the Metropolitan Police, after officers attended his home in London on Monday afternoon. The 72-year-old was taken to a London police station for questioning, the force added without giving specifics on the alleged offence he was arrested over.
The Met had launched an investigation after Lord Mandelson, who was sacked from his post as ambassador to the US in September last year, was alleged to have passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein during his time as business secretary. Lord Mandelson, who resigned from the House of Lords in January, has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Emails from 2009, published by the United States Department of Justice as part of the release of millions of documents relating to Epstein, led to allegations Lord Mandelson had passed on an assessment by one of then-prime minister Gordon Brown’s advisers of potential policy measures.
This month, police searched two of Lord Mandelson’s properties in connection with its investigation.
In a statement, the Met said: “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and has been taken to a London police station for interview. This follows [the execution of] search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”
It is understood the Crown Prosecution Service are yet to offer any early investigative advice in relation to the allegations against Lord Mandelson.
The Cabinet Office previously referred material to police in connection with the probe into Lord Mandelson after an initial review of the Epstein files suggested “safeguards were compromised”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the arrest was a “defining moment” for prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has been criticised for his decision to make Lord Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to the US despite being aware of his links to Epstein.
On Monday afternoon, MPs were told that the first tranche of documents relating to the appointment last year was expected to be released “very shortly, in early March”.
However, the prime minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, said that the publication of some correspondence between Downing Street and the former peer would be delayed “because of the Metropolitan Police interest”.
In a statement to the Commons on Monday, Mr Jones said: “I should, however, inform the House that it remains the case that a subset of this first tranche of documents is currently subject to the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation. This includes correspondence between No 10 and Lord Peter Mandelson, in which a number of follow-up questions were asked.
“Because of the Metropolitan Police interest in this document, we are unable to publish it in early March in the first tranche, but will release it as soon as we are able to do so in consultation with the Metropolitan Police.
“There is also a small portion of that material which engages matters of national security or international relations, and thus the role this House has envisaged for the Intelligence and Security Committee. We are working with the committee to establish processes for making this material available to them, and we’re very grateful to the committee in advance of their important contribution to reviewing these documents.”
The Conservatives have accused the government of acting “with the urgency of a tired sloth on a bank holiday Monday” in releasing documents related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the ambassador to the US. Addressing the Commons on Monday, Tory MP Mike Wood said: “Careful work must not become a euphemism for managed delay.”
Mr Jones responded that the government was trying to manage a criminal investigation, adding: “I’m sure the House would not want us to inadvertently interfere with that process.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Independent, Ms Badenoch accused Labour MPs of “jumping on” parliamentary investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to distract from the Lord Mandelson affair, which she said was far more significant from a parliamentary perspective.
On Monday evening, after Lord Mandelson’s arrest, Baroness Jacqui Smith, minister for women and equalities, defended Sir Keir over his handling of Lord Mandelson, stating he had taken “swift action” to sack him when evidence of his continued relationship with Epstein emerged.
She added: “As soon as Keir Starmer understood what the reality of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was he sacked him, in the middle of the night actually. So I think that’s an important area of judgement.”
