Police should take main motion over Andrew’s Epstein hyperlinks, Gordon Brown says
Gordon Brown has demanded police re-interview Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and his ‘use of public funds’ during his time as the UK’s trade envoy
Gordon Brown said: ‘The British authorities should now re-interview Andrew, not just over possible breaches of the Official Secrets Act, but over his use of public funds’(Image: PA)
Gordon Brown has demanded police re-interview Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and his “use of public funds” during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.
The Labour grandee said the former Prince was interviewed by a business minister at his request when he was Prime Minister “about the unacceptable costs he was incurring” in the role between 2001 and 2011.
On Wednesday, Mr Brown told the New Statesman magazine that police should interview all those involved in managing his trips while serving as UK trade envoy.
Mr Brown said: “The British authorities should now re-interview Andrew, not just over possible breaches of the Official Secrets Act, but over his use of public funds, and especially over incidents in which women allegedly brought to him at Sandringham, Buckingham Palace, Windsor and at other locations, may have been trafficked into the country by Epstein.”
The former PM said he was told Mr Mountbatten-Windsor had suggested the royals should not travel commercially when probed over his high spending of taxpayer cash.
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He said: “Andrew was interviewed, at my request when I was prime minister, by a minister from the business department about the unacceptable costs he was incurring. I was told that his response was to ask whether the government seriously believed that he should have to travel on commercial flights.”
The former Labour leader also said he turned down a request from Mr Mountbatten-Windsor for the government to “pay for the royal family franchising its own fleet of planes” – a request he said he took straight to the late Queen.
Mr Brown also said the police inquiry into the former Duke of York’s connection to Epstein should be “widened” to include alleged sexual abuse.
He said: “The police inquiry (must) immediately be widened to investigate a number of alleged incidents across Britain, involving the abuse of girls and women, including at royal residences.
“Because of the way Epstein’s trafficking ring operated, evidence could be assembled from drivers, airline and airport staff, ticketing agents and credit card companies. Testimonies should also be secured from estate agents, banks, border officials and royal protection officers.”
He added: “Nothing less than the prosecution of those who aided and abetted Epstein will do justice to those who suffered grievous, unconscionable sexual abuse.
“If, as the Epstein emails suggest, the former prince was passing government documents to friends, seemingly going beyond seeking advice on how to discharge his public role, then an investigation is called for – not just into the possible disclosure of official secrets, but into the use of public funds.”
Mr Brown continued: “Police must now interview officials and ask for records from three government departments, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Foreign Office, all involved in managing his trips while serving as UK trade envoy.
“While serving as trade envoy, the former prince regularly used RAF flights. We must now question whether public funds were used in pursuit not just of his public duties, but of his alleged private liaisons and even private business arrangements.”
Mr Brown said the chairman of the Business and Trade Select Committee, Liam Byrne, has told him he will ask questions about Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s “activities as trade envoy”.
He told the magazine: “The King has said that no-one should be above the law, and alongside the police investigation, a select committee in Parliament should examine how public funds were used, and whether a cover-up took place that prevented Andrew from being interviewed by US investigators.”
He added: “It is remarkable that, with the exception of the Maxwell prosecution, Epstein’s victims are still being denied justice in the US and in parts of Europe. It would be a damning indictment of the quality of British justice – and our claim to lead the world in the exposure and prosecution of modern slavery – if, through our failure to follow up on what we already know, we did not get to the truth. There should be no safe haven nor hiding place, in the UK or anywhere else, for those who are guilty of the abuse of power.”
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing. Inclusion in the Epstein files does not suggest wrongdoing. The former prince’s representatives were contacted for a response.
