mps vote to release mandelson files after keir starmer says he 'betrayed our country'

MPs have voted to release documents known as the so-called Mandelson files surrounding the decision to make Peter Mandelson the US ambassador.

No 10 said the Government would comply with a motion backed by MPs and publish documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘Peter Mandelson’s actions were unforgivable.

‘He lied to the Prime Minister,hid information that has since come to light and presented Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew.

‘We will comply with the motion,including publishing documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment,which will show the lies he told.’

A Cabinet Officer minister has set out how documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson will be released to the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?

Metro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight,walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.Chris Ward said some documents could touch on sensitive issues,including foreign intelligence and trade.Sir Keir Starmer has said his once-ally Peter Mandelson ‘betrayed our country,our Parliament and my party’.The prime minister admitted knowing about Lord Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffry Epstein when he brought him back to government.Sir Keir is facing mounting criticism over his handling of the appointment Mandelson and was forced to climbdown over the release of documents relating to that decision.The Prime Minister said: ‘He lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador,I regret appointing him. If I knew then what I know now,he would never have been anywhere near Government.’It comes after the Metropolitan Police has asked the Government not to release ‘certain documents’ relating to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.Mandelson announced today he was quitting the House of Lords (Picture: PA)The force has begun a criminal investigation into allegations Lord Peter Mandelson passed market-sensitive information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration,as it dealt with the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath.Commander Ella Marriott,from the Met,said: ‘As with any investigation,securing and preserving any potential evidence is vital. For this reason,when approached by the UK Government today with their intent to publish material,we reviewed it immediately and advised that the release of specific documents could undermine our current investigation.’Mandelson was already sacked from his role in Washington in September last year over his links with the paedophile financier.In a fiery Commons debate,Your Party’s Zarah Sultana commited to Hansard,for the first time,the phrase: ‘besties with a convicted nonce.’She criticised the wayMandelson was ‘rehabilitated’ and brought back into Government.‘When ordinary people make mistakes,they pay the price … but if you belong to the Westminster club,you can be linked to one of the most notorious predators of our time and still reach the top,’ she says.At Prime Minister’s Questions today,Tory leader Kemi Badenoch repeatedly asked Sir Keir if he knew Lord Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein had continued after the conviction.She said: ‘Can the Prime Minister tell us did the official security vetting he received mention Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein?’Sir Keir replied: ‘Yes it did. As a result,various questions were put to him.’The Prime Minister told MPs: ‘What was not known was the depth,the sheer depth and the extent of the relationship. He lied about that to everyone for years.’The afternoon has been dominated by Parliamentary chaos over an attempt by the Tories to compel the Government to release documents over the appointment.The Prime Minister was forced into a climbdown over the issue and has agreed for the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament to have a role in what should be released.A Labour MP has also become one of the first to publicly call for Morgan McSweeney to go.Kate Osborne told Metro: ‘I don’t always agree with blaming staff,the buck sits with the leadership,having said that I agree McSweeneys position is untenable. ‘When you are constantly the story and taking away from the achievements Labour are making,its time to go.’Another Labour MP,Brian Leishman,told Metro: ‘I can understand why people are discussing the future of the Prime Minister and most certainly why people have lost confidence in his Chief of Staff who seems to be at the centre of all the political misjudgements that has been made.‘Morgan McSweeneys position is surely untenable.’

Emails between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson.

One email in the latest release of Epstein files suggests Lord Mandelson gave Jeffrey Epstein advanced notice of a €500bn EU bank bailout in 2010.

Mandelson,then the UK’s business secretary,was emailed by Epstein who wrote: ‘Sources tell me 500 b euro bailout,almost compelte (sic).’

Lord Mandelson then appears to have responded: ‘Sd be announced tonight’

Epstein then asked if he was home,to which Mandelson replied: ‘Just leaving No10… will call’

In another exchange,Mandelson appears to invite Epstein to an event: ‘It’s a rave,’ with a later message referring to ‘tasty models and dancing’.

Lord Mandelson also sent Jeffrey Epstein an email saying he ‘finally got him to go’,just hours before Gordon Brown publicly announced his resignation as prime minister in May 2010.

He does not name the person he is referring to.

Police are looking into the email exchanges.

On his relationship with Epstein,Mandelson has said: ‘I was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards. I apologise unequivocally for doing so to the women and girls who suffered.’

Peter Mandelson with Keir Starmer during the peer’s short term serving as the UK’s ambassador to the US (Picture: Reuters)

Starmer told a meeting of his Cabinet yesterday he had ‘made it clear the government would cooperate with the police in any inquiries they carried out’.

According to an official readout of the meeting,the PM said Mandelson had ‘let his country down’ and described his claims that he could not recall receiving large amounts of money from Epstein as ‘gobsmacking’.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown also said yesterday he had written to Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley with ‘information relevant to his investigation’.

He described Mandelson’s alleged sharing of information with the US financier as ‘an inexcusable and unpatriotic act at a time when the whole government and country were attempting to address the global financial crisis’.

Mandelson has said he has no record or recollection of receiving money from Epstein,saying he believes the claim to be false and needs ‘investigating by me’.

Brown said he had included a letter he sent to Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald last September,urging him to investigate possible links between Epstein’s sale of assets at the time of the crisis and his messages with Mandelson.

Sir Chris,the UK’s top civil servant,responded to say ‘no records of information or correspondence from Lord Mandelson’s mailbox’,he added.

The ex-PM’s intervention may further increase pressure on the government to explain why action to cut off the peer was not taken sooner.

Donald Trump shaking hands with Mandelson in the Oval Office (Picture: Jim Watson/AFP)

The full extent of that relationship appears to have only emerged through the release of the files by the US Department for Justice.

They revealed Mandelson had described Epstein as his ‘best pal’ in a book created for the financier’s 50th birthday in 2003,and had urged him to ‘fight for early release’ after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution.

The peer resigned his membership of the Labour Party on Sunday night to avoid causing ‘further embarrassment’.