Peter Mandelson to quit House of Lords in bombshell announcement

Lord Mandelson is to quit from the House of Lords, it has been announced by the Lord Speaker.

He will keep his title as a peerage is bestowed for life, unless the Government changes the law.

The Labour peer is stepping back from the upper chamber from Wednesday after files released by the US Department of Justice allegedly showed him passing material to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration.

He has insisted Epstein’s money did not influence his actions in government as Scotland Yard reviews reports of alleged misconduct in a public office.

It is “right” that Lord Mandelson is quitting the House of Lords, a Downing Street spokesman said.

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No 10 also revealed the Cabinet Office has referred material to the police after an initial review of documents released as part of the so-called Epstein files found they contained “likely market sensitive information” and official handling safeguards had been “compromised”.

The Prime Minister told his Cabinet on Tuesday that the alleged transmission of emails of highly sensitive government business was “disgraceful” amid accusations that the peer leaked information to the paedophile financier.

In a readout of Cabinet, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Sir Keir opened the meeting by addressing “recent developments relating to Peter Mandelson”.

“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 co-operate 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.”

In a Times interview conducted before the latest allegations came to light, Lord Mandelson admitted to a “lapse in judgement” over Epstein’s funding of an osteopathy course for the peer’s husband Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009, at the time the government was dealing with the global financial crisis.

The files contain reference to a £10,000 transfer from Epstein.

“In retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgement for Reinaldo to accept this offer. At the time, it was not a consequential decision,” he said.