Peter Mandelson’s legal professionals lash out at police after ‘baseless’ declare over arrest

Peter Mandelson was arrested after “baseless” claims he was planning to flee the country, his lawyers have said.

Scotland Yard is investigating claims the Labour grandee passed sensitive information to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while serving in Gordon Brown’s government. In dramatic scenes on Monday, he was taken into custody by plain clothes officers and held at a London police station before being released in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

His lawyers said he had agreed to attend an interview next months on a voluntary basis, but the Metropolitan Police swooped after suggestions he was planning to leave the country.

In a statement, his law firm Mishcon de Reya said: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis. The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.

“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion. We have asked the MPS for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest. Peter Mandelson’s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.”

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