No 10 gives police material on Mandelson-Epstein emails

The government has referred material to the police after assessing emails Peter Mandelson appears to have sent while business secretary to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A No 10 spokesperson said "an initial review" of the documents found they "contain likely market sensitive information surrounding the 2008 financial crash".

On Monday, the police said they were reviewing reports of alleged misconduct in a public office following accusations that Lord Mandelson gave Epstein sensitive information about the government.

Lord Mandelson, who was the UK's ambassador to the UK last year, has not responded to requests for comment about the allegations.

Mandelson has told parliamentary officials he intends to retire from the House of Lords on Wednesday, according to the Lord Speaker, Lord Forsyth.

The announcement in the Lords comes after a No 10 spokesperson said the government was drafting legislation that would ensure Lord Mandelson's peerage could be removed "as quickly as possible".

Over the weekend, Lord Mandelson reiterated his regret about his continued association with Epstein, apologising "unequivocally to the women and the girls who suffered".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer began his morning Cabinet meeting by saying Lord Mandelson had "let his country down" and that the alleged passing on of emails was "disgraceful," according to Downing Street.

Sir Keir also told his senior ministers that he was "not reassured that the totality of the information had yet emerged".

The apparent emails between Lord Mandelson and Epstein were part of a huge release of documents by the US Department of Justice on Friday.

Emails released in the files from 2008 appear to show Lord Mandelson - who was then business secretary - discussing the government's plans for a one-off tax on bankers' bonuses with Epstein.

Other message indicate that Lord Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Jeffrey Epstein when he was Brown's business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister.

Lord Mandelson's friendship with Epstein was known about when he was appointed as US ambassador in 2024, but he was sacked last year when embarrassing details about their association were released.

No 10 is now facing questions about its vetting process, and how much it knew about the friendship when it decided to make the appointment.

Speaking at an event in London, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said "what appears to have happened is that a lot of the vetting has been waived away".

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for a public inquiry into how Epstein had been able to "gain access to the heart of the British political establishment".

He had also called for the removal of Lord Mandelson's peerage, saying it would get "cross-party agreement".

Downing Street has said it is looking at options for drafting legislation to make that possible, but is also looking at wider reforms to the process for removing peers from the House of Lords.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live earlier, Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused Lord Mandelson of "betrayal on so many levels".

Asked if the appointment of Lord Mandelson had been a failure of judgement, Streeting said: "If anyone is in any doubt about the judgement and integrity of this prime minister, they can judge him by his actions by making sure the ambassador was woken up in the middle of the night, put him on a plane to London and recalled as our ambassador."

Other emails published in the tranche of documents from the US Department of Justice appear to suggest:

• Lord Mandelson advised Epstein in 2009 that the boss of the JP Morgan bank should "mildly threaten" the UK chancellor over a planned tax on bankers' bonuses
• He gave advance notice to Epstein of a €500bn bailout from the EU to save the Euro
• Epstein made $75,000 (£55,000) in payments to Lord Mandelson in three separate $25,000 transactions in 2003 and 2004
• Epstein sent £10,000 to Lord Mandelson's partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009.

Lord Mandelson said he was resigning his Labour membership in a statement released on Sunday.

He also said he believed allegations that Epstein made financial payments to him 20 years ago were false.