Parliament is facing mounting pressure to examine what the royal family knew about Prince Andrew's links to Jeffrey Epstein and to introduce a mechanism to strip him of his titles. Calls have grown for Andrew to face a police investigation and for ancient rules barring parliament from freely scrutinising royals to be revisited.
The Metropolitan police confirmed they are looking into claims that Andrew asked his Met bodyguard to dig up information on Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of sexual assault, hours before a bombshell picture of them was published in 2011. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said leaked emails suggesting Andrew passed Giuffre's personal details to his close protection officer were 'deeply concerning'.
Andrew relinquished some royal titles on Friday, including Duke of York, but retains the dukedom, which would require an act of parliament to remove. His status as a prince could only be removed by a letters patent issued by the king. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing, and the FBI ended its investigation into his Epstein links in July.
Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, is writing to ministers to back her bill giving the king or a parliamentary committee power to remove Andrew's titles. 'Every time this comes up, it clearly must be really traumatising for the victims and survivors,' she said. Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, said: 'It should be a given that the state removes Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's titles.'
George Foulkes, a Labour peer, has written to the clerks of the Commons and Lords asking them to review rules restricting questions about the royal family. He said his attempts to ask about Andrew's role as a UK trade envoy were rejected. Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, called for 'a proper thorough investigation', adding: 'The bigger story here is the monarchy itself.'
