Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at Lord Mandelson and said he has “let his country down” and warned he was “not reassured that the totality of the information has yet emerged” regarding revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He has also tasked officials with drafting legislation that will allow the former ambassador’s peerage to be removed “as quickly as possible”, Downing Street said.
No 10 also revealed the Cabinet Office has referred material to the police after an initial review of documents released by as part of the so-called Epstein files likely contain market sensitive information.
The Prime Minister told his Cabinet on Tuesday (February 3) that the alleged transmission of emails of highly sensitive government business was “disgraceful” amid accusations that the peer leaked information to the paedophile financier.
(Image: PA Wire)
Files released by the US Department of Justice apparently showed Lord Mandelson passing material to Epstein while serving as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration.
The peer has insisted Epstein’s money did not influence his actions in government as Scotland Yard reviews reports of alleged misconduct in a public office.
In a readout of Cabinet on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Sir Keir opened the meeting by addressing “recent developments relating to Peter Mandelson.”
The PM’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister said he was appalled by the information that had emerged over the weekend in the Epstein files,” he said.
“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. The Prime Minister said Peter Mandelson had let his country down.”
Lord Mandelson was featured in the latest unsealed Epstein files with images and emails sent to the disgraced financier. One image showed the former UK Ambassador to the US in his underwear next to a woman in a dressing gown in one of Epstein’s properties.
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