The Foreign Office has launched a review into Lord Mandelson’s severance package following fresh damaging revelations contained in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The ex-Labour peer was removed from his role as Britain’s ambassador to Washington in September, just seven months after taking up the high-profile post.
According to the Times, his exit payment could be worth up to £55,000 before tax, based on a three-month settlement calculated at the top diplomatic service pay band.
Allies of Sir Keir Starmer are now urging that the taxpayer-funded payout made to Lord Mandelson be returned or donated to charity.
“Given what we know now, Mandelson should either pay the money back or give it to a charity to support victims,” a Downing Street source said.
Metropolitan Police officers have carried out searches at two properties linked to Lord Mandelson as part of an investigation into suspected misconduct in public office.
The searches were conducted at his Camden home in north London and at a second property in Wiltshire.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart affirmed that the inquiry would be extensive.
She said: “This will be a complex investigation requiring a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.
“It will take some time to do this work comprehensively and we will not be providing a running commentary.”
The criminal probe was launched after the latest tranche of US government documents relating to Epstein was released.
The files include email correspondence raising questions over whether Lord Mandelson shared market-sensitive information with the convicted paedophile financier during the 2008 financial crisis.
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Documents released by American authorities suggest the peer may have warned Epstein in advance about a €500 billion EU bailout aimed at stabilising the eurozone in 2010.
At the time, Lord Mandelson was serving as a senior minister in Gordon Brown’s government.
Another document from the cache includes a 2009 memo written by Nick Butler, then a senior Downing Street adviser, outlining concerns about Britain’s economic position and proposing the sale of state assets to strengthen public finances.
Anger in Westminster has intensified since the disclosures, with the files appearing to suggest that sensitive government information was passed to Epstein while Lord Mandelson was in office.
More to follow…
