Britain’s Lord Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of committing misconduct in public office in a fresh blow to Sir Keir Starmer.
The former Labour Cabinet minister and ally of the Prime Minister was pictured being marched from his London home by plain-clothes police officers on Monday afternoon (local time).
Police launched an investigation into the disgraced peer three weeks ago after it emerged that he appeared to have leaked sensitive government documents to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet.
His arrest, days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested for the same offence, will create a fresh headache for the embattled Prime Minister, whose judgment has been questioned over the decision to appoint the disgraced peer as Britain’s Ambassador to the US.
Starmer survived the initial fallout from the Epstein files, but his future may hinge on the result of this week’s byelection in Gorton and Denton, Greater Manchester, on Thursday.
The Government announced earlier on Monday that the “Mandelson files” – a dossier of about 100,000 potentially embarrassing documents relating to his appointment and government work – would not be released until after the byelection had concluded.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said Lord Mandelson’s arrest was “the defining moment of Keir Starmer’s premiership”.
She told the BBC: “Watching the man who he appointed to the highest position in our diplomatic service getting arrested by police I think is an image that is going to stay with all of us for many, many years to come.
“And when people think about Keir Starmer and his premiership, they will see the arrest of Peter Mandelson as the defining moment.
“The Prime Minister has terrible judgment, he’s weak, he could have done more. He has not released the information around the files. Instead, he has sacked the person who was supposed to be overseeing the release.
“I think that shows what kind of person the Prime Minister is.”
Lord Mandelson, who was business secretary between October 2008 and May 2010, is thought to have been taken to a central London police station for questioning.
His arrest followed a fast and high-profile investigation by the Metropolitan Police, which searched his multimillion-pound house on the edge of Regent’s Park in north London and his country home in Wiltshire, seizing computer equipment.
The peer has long been criticised for his close relationship with Epstein, with whom he maintained contact even after the financier was convicted of child sex offences in 2008.
A tranche of Epstein’s emails, released by the US Department of Justice last month, showed that their friendship spanned much of Lord Mandelson’s time in public life and allegedly included conversations about confidential government decisions.
The damaging disclosures forced him to renounce his peerage, awarded by Brown in 2008, although No 10 had threatened to strip him of it with legislation if he refused to do so.
Documents he is thought to have shared with Epstein included plans for a multibillion-pound EU bailout, Brown’s resignation, and the potential sale of government land and property.
The Epstein files also suggested that the paedophile sent £56,000 ($127,000) to Lord Mandelson and £10,000 to his husband, although the peer claims he has no record of the payments.
It is understood that the Met is speaking to the special crime division of the Crown Prosecution Service about Lord Mandelson’s case, although no charges have yet been brought.
The offence of misconduct in public office carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Lord Mandelson’s arrest came four days after Thames Valley Police arrested Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of the same crime, in an unrelated investigation, after he too appeared to have fed information to Epstein while working as a government trade envoy.
Police searched Wood Farm, the former Prince’s home on the Sandringham estate. Officers also searched a property in Berkshire.
The former Duke of York was questioned for 11 hours at a police station in Norfolk before he was released under investigation.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Monday: “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview. This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”
Lord Mandelson has apologised to Epstein’s victims and continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Starmer has insisted that he did not know about the “depth” of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein at the time he was appointed, although the details of their friendship had already been published by newspapers and in a report by the investment bank JP Morgan.
The Telegraph previously revealed that the Cabinet Office’s vetting file of the peer contained a report detailing his past associations with Epstein, but Starmer proceeded with the appointment anyway on the advice of Morgan McSweeney, his chief adviser.
McSweeney has since resigned from the Government over the scandal, while Starmer has apologised to Epstein’s victims.
Brown, who orchestrated Lord Mandelson’s return to politics in 2008 and placed him in the House of Lords, has also said he deeply regrets the decision.
Hours after the arrest, Baroness Smith, a Women and Equalities Minister, defended Starmer’s decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, arguing that he was unaware of the “reality” of the peer’s relationship with Epstein and had shown “important” judgment by “sacking him in the middle of the night”.
However, Sir Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor, said the Prime Minister showed a “lack of judgment” and called for an investigation to discover “what information was known at what time and by whom”.
As Lord Mandelson was being led away from his home, Darren Jones, a senior Cabinet Office minister, was announcing to MPs that the release of the Mandelson files would not take place until after the Gorton and Denton byelection.
The files are suspected to contain embarrassing exchanges between the peer and senior government insiders.
The release of the files was the result of pressure from the Conservatives, who demanded transparency over Lord Mandelson’s work and appointment in Parliament. They are expected to show his deep entrenchment in Labour’s political operation.
Some of the content will be redacted for national security reasons, but any decisions on which content to release will be made by an independent panel of MPs and peers.
Badenoch added that the failure to release the files was a “cover-up”, writing on social media: “Time to release the Mandelson files in full. We must know who knew what and when. No more delays.”
However, they will not be published until after the vote in Gorton and Denton, which Starmer claimed would “descend into hostility” if Reform UK were to win.
Starmer has stepped up his attacks on Reform and Nigel Farage in recent months, accusing them of “racist” policies and claiming they would tear Britain apart.
However, the polls show that the race in a previous Labour stronghold is now very close between his party, the Greens and Reform.
At the last election, Labour won 50% of the vote but Andrew Gwynne, the MP, was forced to stand down after his abusive WhatsApp messages were leaked.
Some Labour MPs and government officials suspect Starmer will be forced to resign if his party performs poorly in Thursday’s byelection and the local and devolved elections in May.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.