Peter Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace | EUROtoday

Peter Mandelson has been arrested after being accused of leaking Downing Street emails to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein whereas serving as enterprise secretary.

The former Labour minister and peer was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace, stated the Metropolitan Police, after officers attended his residence in London on Monday afternoon. The 72-year-old was taken to a London police station for questioning, the pressure added with out giving specifics on the alleged offence he was arrested over.

The Met had launched an investigation after Lord Mandelson was alleged to have handed on market-sensitive info to Epstein throughout his time as enterprise secretary. Lord Mandelson, who was sacked from his publish as ambassador to the US final 12 months and resigned from the House of Lords in January, has beforehand denied any wrongdoing.

Emails from 2009, printed by the United States Department of Justice as a part of the discharge of hundreds of thousands of paperwork referring to Epstein, led to allegations Lord Mandelson had handed on an evaluation by certainly one of then-prime minister Gordon Brown’s advisers of potential coverage measures.

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This month, police searched two of Lord Mandelson’s properties in reference to its investigation.

In a press release, the Met stated: “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 known the Crown Prosecution Service are but to supply any early investigative recommendation in relation to the allegations in opposition to Lord Mandelson.

The Cabinet Office beforehand referred materials to police in reference to the probe into Lord Mandelson after an preliminary overview of the Epstein information instructed “safeguards were compromised”.

Tory chief Kemi Badenoch stated the arrest was a “defining moment” for prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has been criticised for his determination to make Lord Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to the US regardless of being conscious of his hyperlinks to Epstein.

On Monday afternoon, MPs had been advised that the primary tranche of paperwork referring to the appointment final 12 months was anticipated to be launched “very shortly, in early March”.

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However, the prime minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, stated that the publication of some correspondence between Downing Street and the previous peer can be delayed “because of the Metropolitan Police interest”.

In a press release to the Commons on Monday, Mr Jones stated: “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 federal government of appearing “with the urgency of a tired sloth on a bank holiday Monday” in releasing paperwork associated to Lord Mandelson’s appointment because the ambassador to the US. Addressing the Commons on Monday, Tory MP Mike Wood stated: “Careful work must not become a euphemism for managed delay.”

Mr Jones responded that the federal government was making an attempt to handle a prison investigation, including: “I’m sure the House would not want us to inadvertently interfere with that process.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with The IndependentMs Badenoch accused Labour MPs of “jumping on” parliamentary investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to distract from the Lord Mandelson affair, which she stated was much more important from a parliamentary perspective.

On Monday night, after Lord Mandelson’s arrest, Baroness Jacqui Smith, minister for girls and equalities, defended Sir Keir over his dealing with of Lord Mandelson, stating he had taken “swift action” to sack him when proof 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.”