Keir Starmer has handed a dossier on Peter Mandelson to the police and will legislate to strip the disgraced former minister of his peerage, after reports that he leaked market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein at the height of the financial crisis.
Starmer told his cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning he was “appalled” by the reported leaks and had also asked officials to draft legislation to strip Mandelson of his peerage “as quickly as possible”.
The Cabinet Office has sent the Metropolitan police details about emails from the then-business secretary to the child sex offender.
The prime minister is said to have told his cabinet he believed there may be more scandals yet to be uncovered within the cache of emails released in the Epstein files, saying he was “not reassured that the totality of the information had yet emerged”.
Starmer’s spokesperson said the prime minister had told cabinet that Mandelson had “let his country down”.
He added: “The public don’t really see individuals in this scandal, they see politicians. For the public to see politicians saying they can’t recall receiving significant sums of money or not was just gobsmacking, causing them to lose faith in all politicians and weaken trust still further. The prime minister said that was why moving quickly in this matter was vital.”
The prime minister has asked officials to draft legislation to strip Mandelson of his peerage – the first time that would have occurred since 1917. “The prime minister believes there is a broader need for the House of Lords to be able to remove transgressors more quickly,” Starmer’s spokesperson said.
“The prime minister regards it as ridiculous that a peerage cannot be removed except with primary legislation, something that has not happened since 1917. He thinks that in no other walk of life are you unsackable unless a law is passed. He thinks that the country expects the process for removing lords to be fit for purpose, and in line with expectations.”
Fresh disclosures from the Epstein files appear to show Mandelson sent a string of emails to the late financier containing confidential information that the government was receiving to deal with the global crash while he was business secretary under Gordon Brown.
Starmer’s spokesperson said the Cabinet Office was reviewing all information it had regarding the documents but an initial review of the Epstein files released on Friday by the US Department of Justice found “they contain likely market sensitive information surrounding the 2008 financial crash and the official activities thereafter to stabilise the economy”.
He added: “Only people operating in an official capacity had access to this information in strict handling conditions to ensure it was not available to anyone who could potentially benefit from it financially. It appears these safeguards were compromised. In light of this information, the Cabinet Office has referred this material to the police.”
Starmer told cabinet ministers at a meeting on Tuesday morning that “the government stands ready to provide whatever support and assistance” was needed.
MPs told the Guardian they wanted to force further disclosures from Downing Street – including the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney – about what Mandelson had been asked about prior to his appointment as US ambassador.
Emails forwarded to Epstein from the very top of the UK government while he was business secretary include a confidential UK government document intended for the prime minister outlining a potential £20bn in asset sales.
They also include Mandelson claiming he was “trying hard” to change government policy on bankers’ bonuses, early confirmation of an imminent bailout package for the euro and a suggestion that the JPMorgan boss “mildly threaten” the chancellor over bonuses.
The European Commission also said on Tuesday it would look into whether Mandelson had broken its code of conduct while he was EU commissioner between 2004 and 2008.
Mandelson appears to have been sent three separate payments of $25,000 (£18,000) by Epstein in 2003 and 2004, though the peer said he had no recollection of the payments.
The European commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari told a press conference: “We have rules in place emanating from the treaty and the code of conduct that commissioners, including former commissioners, have to follow.
“We will be assessing if, in light of these newly available documents, there might be breaches of the respective rules with regard to Peter Mandelson.”
The UK health secretary, Wes Streeting, said that Mandelson’s association with Epstein was a “betrayal on so many levels” but said he could not see how the Cabinet Office or Starmer would have known about the leaking of confidential information to Epstein.
“I can’t see how it would have been known or could have been known, the full extent of Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein or indeed the fact that he was passing sensitive and market-sensitive information to this man whilst as a serving government minister,” he told BBC Radio 5Live.
“I don’t think that could have been known and should have been known. And if anyone is in any doubt about the judgment and integrity of this prime minister, they can judge him by his actions, making sure the ambassador was woken up in the middle of the night and was put on a plane back to London and recalled as our ambassador.”
