Top minister quizzed on Andrew judge-led inquiry calls – ‘nobody above regulation’
The disgraced ex-Prince, who was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on his 66th birthday on Friday, is also facing being axed from the line of succession
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was arrested on Friday(Image: BBC)
A top Cabinet minister did not rule out a judge-led inquiry today after Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s arrest.
The disgraced ex-Prince, who was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on his 66th birthday on Friday, is also facing being axed from the line of succession.
Dai Davies, the head of Scotland Yard’s Royal Protection Command from 1994 to 1998, told the Sunday Mirror there needed to be a judge-led probe. He said: “It needs to have the power to call people at all levels, including people from the Palace, diplomats, private secretaries and press officers to find out exactly who knew what and when.”
Speaking on Sunday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said it would be “premature” to do anything while police investigate. But asked whether the Government would consider the move, she told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky: “We’ll look at any sensible proposals that do come forward.
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“But it’s premature at the moment, because we do have the police doing their work. They need to have the time and space to do so, as the King set out, no-one is above the law, and it’s right that the police go wherever the evidence takes them, so that has to be the focus at the moment.”
Over the weekend the Lib Dem MP Layla Moran said: “We want an independent public inquiry to really get to the bottom of what all parts of our state knew. What did the police know? What did the Palace know? What did government know? What did Number 10 know at what stage?”
She added: “This is critically important. This goes beyond the Crown. It goes right to the heart of the relationship between the establishment and elites. Transparency is the way to do this. We need to get to the bottom of all of it, not just Andrew.”
It is also understood the government is considering legislation to remove Andrew from the line of succession with an Act of Parliament. Sources suggested on Friday the government will begin consultation after the conclusion of multiple police investigations into allegations surrounding Andrew’s conduct.
Andrew is currently eighth in line to the throne after Princes William and Harry and their children. The King effectively stripped him of his royal titles in October after new information came to light about his links to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in millions of documents released by the US State Department.
Andrew has vigorously denied wrongdoing in relation to allegations of sexual misconduct and is yet to respond to allegations about his role as envoy.
