The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has provided the Metropolitan Police a file on Lord Peter Mandelson and his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It has been alleged that Mandelson shared confidential Downing Street information whilst he was the Business Secretary under Gordon Brown, who the then Prime Minister.
During the height of the financial crisis in 2009, emails appear to show that Mandelson told Epstein he will lobby ministers on the then proposed tax on bankers bonuses.
Starmer said on Tuesday that Mandelson has “let the country down.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman read out a Cabinet statement, saying, “The Prime Minister said he was appalled by the information that had emerged over the weekend in the Epstein files.
Read more related news:
Mandelson claims ‘there is nothing I can tell Congress about Epstein’
“He said the alleged passing-on of emails of highly sensitive Government business was disgraceful, adding that he was not reassured that the totality of information had yet emerged.
“The Prime Minister told cabinet that Peter Mandelson should no longer be a member of the House of Lords or use the title, and said he had asked the Cabinet Secretary to review all available information regarding Mandelson’s contact with Jeffrey Epstein during his time serving as a government minister.
“He said he’d made it clear the government would cooperate with the police in any inquiries they carried out, but he said the government had to press and go further, working at speed in the Lords, including legislatively if necessary.
“He reiterated that there was a need to move at pace.
“An initial review of the documents released in relation to Jeffrey Epstein by the US Department of Justice … found that they contain likely market-sensitive information surrounding the 2008 financial crash and official activities thereafter to stabilise the economy,” the Cabinet Office added.
Only people operating in an official capacity had access to this information and (there were) strict handling conditions to ensure it was not available to anyone who could potentially benefit from it financially.
“It appears these safeguards were compromised. In light of this information the Cabinet Office has referred this material to the police.”
Duncan Hames, Director of Policy at Transparency International UK, told LBC, “This whole saga will just reinforce concerns that the public have.
That those with money also have privileged access to power and use that in their own interests.
