Gordon Brown has viciously hit again at Peter Mandelson over the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata, saying he now “greatly regrets” appointing the peer to the cupboard. The former prime minister introduced the Prince of Darkness again from the political wilderness to make him enterprise secretary in 2008, regardless of the pair having spectacularly fallen out beforehand.
The transfer was seen as a political masterstroke on the time, with Mr Brown citing Lord Mandelson’s enormous expertise in financial affairs and later making him successfully deputy prime minister. But writing for The Guardian, Mr Brown mentioned he now vastly regretted his determination following bombshell revelations within the Epstein recordsdata. Lord Mandelson is alleged to have leaked market-sensitive info on the peak of the monetary disaster and suggested a banker to “mildly threaten” the then-chancellor, Alistair Darling.
“That the leaks of sensitive information were going to someone we now know was the ringmaster of a cabal of abusers and enablers sickens me,” mentioned Mr Brown, prime minister between 2007-10.
“I have to take personal responsibility for appointing Mandelson to his ministerial role in 2008. I greatly regret this appointment.
“I was informed that his record in the role was unblemished and there were no reports of a relationship with anyone named Epstein. No one could say I promoted him out of favouritism.
“I did so in spite of him being anything but a friend to me, because I thought that his unquestioned knowledge of Europe and beyond could help us as we dealt with the global financial crisis. I now know that I was wrong.
“His activities, which his own emails have brought into the public arena, do not only show his duplicity.
“They force us to examine how easy it is in our country to trade secrets – for wealth to gain access to power, how backdoor routes to decision-makers can be covered up, how lobbying for financial gain can circumvent well-meaning but insipid rules and how our laws seem to have failed to catch up with corruption.”
Mr Brown is now calling for an unbiased anti-corruption fee to be appointed by Parliament “to root out any criminality in UK political life”.
On Friday, police raided Lord Mandelson’s properties as a part of a felony probe into the disgraced Labour grandee.
The Prime Minister sparked intense fury on Wednesday when he confirmed to the Commons that he appointed Lord Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington regardless of realizing that the Labour peer’s relationship with Epstein continued after his conviction for youngster intercourse offences.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2167949/gordon-brown-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein