Usually, when public figures have “questions to answer”, they have some choice about how they do so. This is more complicated in the case of Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, as a public figure he will soon no longer be.
Having resigned from the Labour Party to “prevent further embarrassment” over the Epstein files, he has since stepped down from the House of Lords. The prime minister – after unnecessary delay – has committed to removing the peer’s title, and Lord Mandelson’s place in the Privy Council, which confers the title “right honourable”, may also be withdrawn, in another highly unusual step.
