Lord Peter Mandelson’s arrest will “haunt the Labour Government” for “years to come”, a former political adviser has warned.
Speaking to GB News, Oscar Reddrop suggested that the scandal surrounding the ex-US Ambassador may cause “real damage” to Sir Keir Starmer.
Peter Mandelson was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Following Lord Mandelson’s arrest, the disgraced peer’s lawyers have hit out at “baseless” claims made by the Met Police that he was “preparing to leave the country”.
The ex-Labour minister’s lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, said in a statement on Tuesday evening: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis.
“The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.
“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion. We have asked the MPS for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest.
“Peter Mandelson’s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.”
Oscar Reddrop has told GB News that the arrest of Peter Mandelson will ‘haunt the Labour Government’ for ‘years to come’
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PA / GB NEWS / POOL
Delivering his verdict on Mr Mandelson’s arrest, Mr Reddrop told GB News: “It’s really interesting, I think there is a sense potentially that the police really wanted to avoid any perception whatsoever that one can be above the law, because of just how things have set fire to the public consciousness on this.
“It really has eroded trust in every single way you could imagine, pillars of society that we have, politics and obviously the Royal Family.”
Noting that the police acted “swiftly” after allegedly being informed of Mr Mandelson’s plan to “flee the country”, he added: “I get a sense that if there was even a hint that Mandelson was potentially looking to avoid that police scrutiny, that they were not willing to take any risks on it.
“And so in many ways, I think that’s potentially fair enough. They did receive a tip, and they acted very swiftly on it.”
The former Labour minister was seen returning to his home in the early hours of Tuesday after being released on bail
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GB NEWSOffering a bleak prediction for Sir Keir’s Government, Mr Reddrop suggested that the images of Mr Mandelson being escorted from his home by police and returned the next morning will “haunt” the Labour Government for a long time.
He told GB News: “The images, if we just talk about the politics of this, I think will haunt our politics and the Labour Government and quite potentially Keir Starmer for years to come.
“The highest in terms of diplomatic posting, the most prestigious job that you could get in this country, and he’s been walked out and arrested by police months later. Just saying it out loud doesn’t quite do it justice.”
Reflecting on the release of the Epstein files amid the Lord Mandelson scandal, Mr Reddrop argued that there has been “stupidity at play” in Parliament.
He explained: “The thing I don’t quite understand about the appointment, take the moral stuff out of it, that should be blindingly obvious.
“But we knew in some form that Trump and America were going to release the Epstein files in some form of another, and that was obviously going to happen during Peter Mandelson’s time in the US.
Mr Reddrop told GB News that the arrest could cause ‘real damage’ for Keir Starmer
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GB NEWS
“So I don’t quite get how they didn’t go, ‘hang on a minute, they’re going to release files whilst a guy that we know had an extensive friendship’. It’s extraordinary just on that level, the stupidity at play.”
Earlier this month, the peer resigned his Labour membership and said he has “no record or recollection” of alleged financial payments made to him by Epstein.
Mr Mandelson has previously said of his relations with Epstein: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes like everyone else.
“I learned the actual truth about him after his death, and he added that he had relied on assurances of his innocence. That turned out later to be horrendously false.”
Lord Mandelson has not responded to previous requests for comment, but we understand that prior to his arrest, his position was he has not acted criminally and did not act for personal gain.