Mandelson arrested over Epstein leak claims, lawyers deny flight risk
Lord Mandelson was arrested at his London home on suspicion of misconduct in public office. His lawyers call the flight risk claim "baseless."
Mandelson held nine hours after 'baseless' flight risk tip
Lord Mandelson was arrested at his London home on Monday afternoon, taken to Wandsworth police station and held for nine hours before being released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning, bbc.com reports.
His lawyers at Mishcon De Reya say police justified the arrest by claiming Mandelson was planning to leave the United Kingdom permanently. "There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion," a spokesperson for the firm said, adding that the arrest came despite an existing agreement that Mandelson would attend a voluntary interview the following month.
The Metropolitan Police has declined to comment. It has confirmed Mandelson is bailed to the end of May and, according to sources familiar with the case, surrendered his passport as one of the bail conditions.
The arrest on Monday followed search warrants executed at two addresses, one in Wiltshire and one in Camden. Officers from the Met's central specialist crime division carried out the operation; Mandelson was led from his home by plain-clothes officers and placed in an unmarked car.
The force launched its investigation earlier this month into allegations that Mandelson, while serving as a government minister, passed market-sensitive information to the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Consultations between the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service are described as ongoing.
According to bbc.com, Mandelson's position is that he has not acted criminally and was not motivated by financial gain. His lawyers stated his "overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name." They have formally requested the evidence the Metropolitan Police Service relied upon to justify the arrest.
The allegations surfaced after the US Department of Justice released a set of documents last month, among them emails exchanged between Mandelson and Epstein. One email from 2009 appears to show Mandelson forwarding an assessment by an adviser to then-prime minister Gordon Brown regarding policy measures, including an "asset sales plan". Further emails appear to show Mandelson discussing a proposed tax on bankers' bonuses and, the day before it was publicly announced in 2010, confirming an imminent bailout package for the euro.
Mandelson is a long-standing figure in British politics. He began working for the Labour Party in the 1980s and played a central role in the New Labour project and Tony Blair's landslide election victory in 1997. He was appointed British ambassador to the United States in February 2025, but was dismissed in September after Downing Street said new information had emerged about the depth of his relationship with Epstein.
Source: Google News VG — Crime