Peter Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords after a series of scandalous emails came to light that linked him to the child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, including ones that apparently leaked confidential UK government communications.
Mandelson told parliamentary officials he intends to retire from the Lords from tomorrow. He has been on a leave of absence from the upper chamber.
The announcement was made at the start of business by the new Lord Speaker, Lord Forsyth.
“My Lords, 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.”
Lord Forsyth
Lord Mandelson can retire from the House of Lords because the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 enables a life peer to resign from being a member of the upper chamber.
However, the House of Lords library says a life peerage cannot be relinquished and a peerage can only be removed by an Act of Parliament, meaning a retired member is disqualified from attending proceedings of the House of Lords, but they do not lose their title.
The last known instance of legislation being passed to strip someone of a peerage was in 1917, which was used to remove peerages from “enemies” of the UK during World War One.
UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer told a meeting of the cabinet this morning that 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 Prime Minister told the cabinet he found it incomprehensible that more could not be done to strip peers of their titles for poor behaviour. “The Prime Minister believes there is a broader need for the House of Lords to be able to remove transgressors more quickly,” his 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.”
Spokesperson
Addressing the cabinet, Starmer said that Mandelson had “let his country down” and added, “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.”
Cabinet Office Refers Material To Police
The decision to retire comes after the Cabinet Office refered material to police after reviewing Epstein file documents that suggest alleged leaks of sensitive information by Lord Mandelson.
According to Downing Street, an initial review of the documents released in relation to Jeffrey Epstein by the US Department of Justice “… found that they contain likely market sensitive information surrounding the 2008 financial crash and official activities thereafter to stabilise the economy.”
“Only people operating in an official capacity had access to this information and (there were) 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.”
Downing Street
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 JP Morgan boss “mildly threaten” the Chancellor over bonuses.
The UK Prime Minister is said to have told his cabinet he believed that there may be more scandals yet to be uncovered within the cache of emails, saying that he was “not reassured that the totality of the information had yet emerged.”
