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THE METROPOLITAN POLICE are investigating a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in a public office after Peter Mandelson was accused of leaking sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The UK’s former ambassador to the US features a number of times in millions of pages released by the US Department of Justice as part of the so-called “Epstein files”.
Being named or pictured in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing, and many of those identified in the files have denied any wrongdoing.
Documents released by the DoJ indicate Epstein was sent details of internal discussions from the heart of the UK government after the global financial crisis.
Mandelson, Britain’s then-business secretary, appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers’ bonuses in 2009, and to confirm an imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.
Bank statements from 2003 and 2004 appeared to show he received payments totalling $75,000 (€63,000) from the financier, and Epstein is also said to have paid for an osteopathy course for Mandelson’s husband.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has asked his Cabinet secretary to conduct “an urgent review” looking at “all available information regarding Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein during his period as a government minister”. He has also urged him to resign from the House of Lords.
Mandelson resigned his Labour membership on Sunday and said he has “no record or recollection” of alleged financial payments made to him by Epstein.
Amid the fallout, the story is leading many of the newspapers in the UK this morning.
The Times and the Daily Telegraph lead on the Met Police probe into the allegations that Mandelson leaked sensitive information to Epstein.
The Independent carries a photograph of Mandelson with Epstein on a boat with the same story, quoting former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown calling for an inquiry into the “wholly unacceptable” disclosure.
The i newspaper goes for a similar front page, including the claim that Mandelson ‘gave Epstein advanced notice of €500bn eurozone bailout during financial crisis’ while he was Brown’s business secretary.
The Guardian is also leading with the story on its front page.
‘Labour’s dark lord now faces a criminal inquiry’ is the Daily Mail’s take on the allegations against Mandelson.
The article also features a photograph that was released in the latest batch of files on Epstein, which appears to show the 72-year-old in his underwear in the convicted sex offender’s Paris apartment with an unknown woman.
The Daily Mirror’s story on the allegations is accompanied by a photograph of Mandelson with Epstein and a birthday cake. It quotes a Downing Street spokesperson saying Starmer believes Mandelson “should not be able to use the title”.
Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper leads with the SNP reporting Mandelson to the police over the allegations that he leaked information to Epstein under the headline ‘SNP call cops on Mandy’.
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