Time has come for Mandelson to face criminal prosecutions, say Labour MPs
Senior Labour MPs have called for Lord Mandelson to face criminal prosecution after he was alleged to have leaked sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein.
Documents released in the Epstein files apparently showed Lord Mandelson passing information to the paedophile financier while the peer was a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government.
Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, told the Commons it was “not a matter of whether Peter Mandelson should be in the House of Lords, this is a matter of whether the police should be involved”.
Labour former minister Justin Madders also called for an investigation into the potential misconduct in public office.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said: “The undeclared exchange of funds, the passing on of Government information, let alone the facts that those exchanges were to a convicted paedophile, are wholly unconscionable.
“And the House will know that if any of those activities were to take place today, ministers would be swiftly relieved of their duties and could be, via the recall petitions available to the House, removed from their constituency too.”
He added that criminal investigations are a “matter for the prosecution services and the police”.
While he was business secretary, email exchanges from December 2009 suggest Lord Mandelson was lobbying to change a tax on bankers’ bonuses, with encouragement from Epstein.
The emails came at the time the so-called “super tax” was being introduced by then-chancellor Alistair Darling to clamp down on bank profits being used to pay large bonuses for bankers after the financial crisis.
An email dated December 15 2009, which appears to be from Epstein, reads: “Any real chance of making the tax only on the cash portion of the bankers bonus.”
The reply, apparently from Lord Mandelson, said he was “trying hard to amend”, adding: “Treasury digging in but I am on case.”
Two days later, an email discussion indicates Lord Mandelson encouraged JP Morgan’s boss Jamie Dimon to call Mr Darling and “mildly threaten” him.
Emails also show internal discussions from the heart of the Brown administration were passed to Epstein in 2009.
Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, told MPs on Monday: “This is a disaster, and against the backdrop of the incredible abuse of young women for such a long time. It just fills the House with horror.”
He pressed for “full engagement” with the criminal authorities, adding: “Because, as many people have said in this place already, the time has come for criminal prosecution.”
Mr Jones said Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald is “reviewing the archive again” in relation to Lord Mandelson’s time as a Labour minister, and “will be reporting to the Prime Minister as soon as he’s been able to do that”.
Former business minister Mr Madders also criticised the “passing-on by a serving cabinet minister to third parties of highly sensitive information”.
“Clearly, that’s something that could amount to misconduct in public office, and I hope that the police do investigate that,” he added.
Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, said the situation “strengthens the case for the Hillsborough law, to hold all those in power to account”.
“Under this law, ministers who use their office to gain a benefit, financial, reputational, or otherwise, or cause detriment to others while knowing their conduct is improper, could face up to 10 years imprisonment. It cannot come quickly enough,” he added.
Mr Jones reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to bringing forward the Hillsborough law “as soon as possible”.
He added the Prime Minister chose to sack Lord Mandelson “when more information had become available”.
Dr Peter Prinsley, the Labour MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, said the latest information appeared to show “political insider trading on a grand scale”, and asked whether the minister would support a criminal investigation.
Mr Jones responded: “Releasing Government information, in and of itself, let alone in respect for personal or commercial gain, is wrong and a breach of the rules that we must all comply with, and if that is the case, then there should be appropriate investigations and consequences for that behaviour.”
Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick (Newark) said Lord Mandelson “has clearly broken the law and stands now accused of serious misconduct in a public office and should be tried for his offences”.
The former Conservative minister urged the Government to “go proactively to the police and demand an investigation”.
Mr Jones replied: “The Government will, of course, cooperate with any investigation that takes place, and encourages everybody to do so.”
The Liberal Democrats, SNP and Plaid Cymru have also called for Lord Mandelson to face a police investigation.
Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer believed the former ambassador to the US “should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title”.
Under current arrangements, a new law would be required to remove a peerage, something that last happened more than 100 years ago to deal with members of the nobility who sided with the Germans in the First World War.
Published: by Radio NewsHub