Gordon Brown has asked the cabinet secretary to investigate whether Peter Mandelson shared market-sensitive government information with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The former prime minister's request follows the release of documents showing Mandelson, then business secretary, forwarded a confidential economic briefing to Epstein in June 2009.
The email, sent by Brown's special adviser Nick Butler, detailed potential policy measures and suggested the government had saleable assets. Mandelson forwarded it to Epstein with the note: 'Interesting note that's gone to the PM.' Epstein replied asking what assets were saleable, and a redacted response suggested 'land, property'.
Brown said he had asked cabinet secretary Chris Wormald to examine communications between Mandelson and Epstein from September last year, but was told no departmental record could be found. He has now requested a wider inquiry into the disclosure of government papers during the financial crisis, and wants the results published.
Butler said he was considering reporting the matter to the police, describing the leak as a 'breach of trust' that gave Epstein the chance to profit. Keir Starmer suggested Mandelson should resign from the House of Lords and that the upper chamber should modernise its disciplinary procedures.
The documents, released by the US justice department, also show Mandelson appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers' bonuses in 2009 and confirmed an imminent euro bailout package in 2010. Mandelson resigned his Labour party membership on Sunday.
