Mandelson QUITS the Lords after Starmer threatens to change law to force him out – and Cabinet Office calls in cops over leaks of secrets to Epstein
JAMES TAPSFIELD
Lord Mandelson declared he will quit the House of Lords today after Keir Starmer threatened to change the law to kick him out.
The dramatic news – effective from tomorrow – was announced by the Lord Speaker following days of building pressure from all sides.
But the New Labour architect is still facing the threat of a police probe into leaking UK secrets to Jeffrey Epstein.
Downing Street said material connected to the extraordinary trove of emails between Lord Mandelson and the paedophile financier had been ‘referred’ to Scotland Yard.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Gordon Brown has written to Metropolitan Police boss Sir Mark Rowley with ‘information relevant to his investigation of Lord Mandelson’s disclosure of market sensitive and confidential Government information’.
Sir Keir told Cabinet earlier on Tuesday that he was ‘appalled’ by the revelations and the apparent forwarding of sensitive internal discussions about the Credit Crunch was ‘disgraceful’.
The Prime Minister warned ministers that although Lord Mandelson’s behaviour was ‘gobsmacking’ he was ‘not reassured the totality of the information had yet emerged’.
Sir Keir also said he would act ‘legislatively if necessary’ to remove Lord Mandelson from the Upper House. A law was being drafted that could also strip his title, with ‘nothing off the table’.
Lord Mandelson is now intending to retire from the House, but will still be able to refer to himself as ‘Lord’ unless legislation is passed. A No 10 spokesman said it was ‘right’ that he was leaving.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the Lord Speaker, told peers this afternoon: ‘Given the public interest and for the convenience of the House, I have decided to inform the House that the Clerk of the Parliaments has today received notification from Lord Mandelson of his intention to retire from the House effective from 4 February.
‘I will formally notify this to the House tomorrow in the usual way.’
It is understood the Cabinet Office did an ‘initial assessment’ after the latest tranche of evidence was released by the US on Friday.
After reviewing the original email chains officials found they contained ‘market sensitive’ information and details of the government response to the crisis. Strict handling controls were in place and they concluded ‘safeguards were compromised’.
As a result the government proactively contacted the Metropolitan Police to alert them to the issues.
The force has confirmed it is looking into allegations the ex-Cabinet minister committed misconduct in public office, but has not yet launched a formal investigation.
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