The first documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States will be released on Wednesday.
Cabinet minister Darren Jones said a “big number” of the documents will be released, although it is only expected to be a fraction of the papers demanded by Parliament.
Last month, MPs ordered the government to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted, plus what was known about his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Prime Minister has insisted Lord Mandelson “lied repeatedly” to No 10 about his relationship with Epstein, before and during his tenure as ambassador.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Jones, will confirm the release of the first set of documents – those which have been cleared for publication by the police investigating Lord Mandelson – in a Commons statement.
The timing of the release has led to accusations from the Conservatives that the Prime Minister is attempting to “dodge questions” about Lord Mandelson’s vetting by publishing the documents after PMQs.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said: “His fingers are all over this. He’s already admitted that he knew about Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Epstein when he appointed him.
“Time and again his judgment has been found wanting.”
But Mr Jones said: “We were always teed up to report in early March with the first tranche of documents, which is what we’re doing this afternoon.
“Because I run the Cabinet Office, at the centre of government, it was always my responsibility to give those updates to the House of Commons and statements always come after Prime Minister’s Questions.”
The release of the documents was ordered when MPs backed a “humble address” motion tabled by the Tories, a rarely-used manoeuvre which compels the government to act.
Some files will be withheld for national security or foreign relations reasons, but the final say over which documents are redacted rests with Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee.
The government has also agreed a framework with the Metropolitan Police on which documents can be released without prejudicing the ongoing police investigation into Lord Mandelson.
Mr Jones said: “It’s a big number of documents. The government takes its responsibility to be transparent to Parliament really seriously.
“And of course, on this issue of Peter Mandelson and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, we all have a shared interest in bringing some accountability and transparency to these issues.
“So the first tranche will be published this afternoon. A second tranche, they will come later, because there’s been further work that we’ve had to do across government in response to the humble address, which is not quite ready.
“And we have two other processes that take a bit of time, given the live criminal investigation with the Metropolitan Police and the role of the Intelligence and Security Committee in Parliament has some oversight of it.”
Lord Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, having been accused of passing sensitive information on to Epstein during his time as business secretary.
He was subsequently bailed, but later released from his bail conditions, although he remains under investigation.
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