Keir Starmer to face PMQs after criminal investigation launched into Mandelson

Keir Starmer is to face Prime Minister’s Questions amid scrutiny over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as Britain’s US ambassador.

The Metropolitan Police announced on Tuesday that it has launched a criminal investigation into Lord Mandelson following claims he passed market-sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Files released by the US Department of Justice apparently showed Lord Mandelson passing material to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Labour administration as it dealt with the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath.

The government said it was drafting legislation that would strip Mandelson of his peerage before it was announced by the Lords Speaker that Mandelson is retiring from the House of Lords.

Gordon Brown has written to the chief of the Metropolitan Police to provide information relating to Lord Mandelson’s alleged disclosure of market-sensitive information.

Former prime minister Brown on Tuesday said he had written to Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley with “relevant” information relating to Lord Mandelson’s “inexcusable and unpatriotic act”.

Brown said he had shared with the police 2025 correspondence between him and Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, including his request for the examination of communication about the sale of assets between Lord Mandelson and Epstein last September, following an earlier release of documents relating to the sex offender.

Newly released emails from 2009 appeared to show Lord Mandelson – who is to step down from the House of Lords amid the scandal – share sensitive information on at least four occasions.