Mandelson scandal is 'serious' for Starmer but PM is 'man of integrity', Brown says

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the BBC the situation facing Sir Keir Starmer is "serious" and suggested he might have been "too slow to do the right things" in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal.

But, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Brown backed Sir Keir as a "man of integrity" who had been "betrayed" by Lord Mandelson, and said Starmer was the right man to "clean up the system".

Brown's remarks came as police concluded a search of two homes linked to Mandelson, after suggestions he passed on market-sensitive government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson has not responded to the BBC's request for comment. The BBC understands his position is that he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.

Starmer is under mounting pressure from Labour MPs after he decided to appoint Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US - even though Mandelson's relationship with Epstein was a matter of public record at the time.

But the prime minister said earlier this week that Mandelson had lied to him, adding: "None of us knew the depths and the darkness of that relationship."

When asked if Sir Keir was the right man to take the country forward, Brown said: "Well, this is obviously serious. I mean, there's always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair, it happens to everybody about how their future should be gauged.

"But this is serious and the task is very clear. We've got to clean up the system...and end the corruption and unethical behaviour. And if we don't do it, we'll pay a heavy price."

Brown, who was prime minister while Mandelson was in government, added that Sir Keir is "a man of integrity" who "wants to do the right things".

He said: "Perhaps he's been too slow to do the right things, but he must do the right things now, and let's judge what he does on what happens in the next few months, when he tries to, and I believe (he) will try, to clean up the system."

Email exchanges released in the latest Epstein files suggest Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Epstein, including a 2009 memo in which policy adviser Nick Butler wrote about the UK's struggling economy and recommended selling off government-held assets in order to raise public funds.

Another exchange indicates Mandelson gave Epstein advance notice of a €500bn bailout by the EU to save the ailing Euro in 2010.

Mandelson, who was then business secretary, also gave Epstein almost minute-by-minute updates in the days following the 2010 general election, when Labour lost its majority.

Brown said he believes Mandelson "betrayed" his country by leaking the information.

He said Mandelson's communications with Epstein "meant Britain was at risk because of that, the currency was at risk, some of the trading that would happen would be speculative as a result of that and there's no doubt that huge commercial damage could have been done and perhaps was done".

Brown said he felt "shocked, sad, angry, betrayed, let down" by the messages.

He said they indicate Mandelson was planning for a career outside government while he was business secretary during the response to the global financial crisis.

"The emails show that," he said. "They show that he was talking about writing a book while he was supposed to be a government minister. He was talking about how he would get a job after the government was over and talking about what banks would employ him.

"All these things were happening at one and the same time, so it was a complete betrayal of his colleagues and of the job that he was carrying out and, of course, it was a betrayal of the country."

Brown called for Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who also appeared in photographs in the recent Epstein file release, to "give... information to the authorities" investigating Epstein's crimes.

"We're dealing with a global network of very powerful people who believed that they could break the law, they believed they could do anything because nobody would prosecute them," he said.

Brown renewed his calls for "comprehensive" reform of the British political system.

He said the government needed to introduce an "anti-corruption commission" with "powers to seize assets", among a raft of other measures to clear up public life.

Brown said the government needed to act quickly to bring in the recommendations relating to standards in public life that he laid out in his report "A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy".

He suggested there should be US-style confirmation hearings for new government ministers and senior appointments.

He said the alleged lies told by Mandelson during his appointment process as US ambassador were "not sufficient explanation for what happened".

"There is a systemic failure to do proper vetting, to go through the proper procedures and to actually have, in my view, what should be public hearings for anybody who is going to be in a senior position representing the British government," he said.

He added a new ethics commission should be given statutory powers to check the bank accounts of people being appointed to senior government positions, and there needed to be a crackdown on "the systematic abuse of power by lobbyists".

He also said there should be a ban on MP's second jobs except in the case of doctors.

On Saturday, the Metropolitan police said it had concluded a search linked to Mandelson in Wiltshire and north London following allegations of misconduct in public office.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart, of the Metropolitan Police, said: "I can confirm that officers from the Met's Central Specialist Crime team have carried out searches at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area, and another in the Camden area. The searches were related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man.

"He has not been arrested and enquiries are ongoing. 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."