Peter Mandelson arrested as former minister pictured being escorted by police amid Epstein investigation

He was seen being led from his home by police this afternoon.

The allegations relating to Lord Mandelson surfaced following the US Department of Justice’s document dump related to Epstein last month.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

"He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, February 23, and has been taken to a London police station for interview.

"This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”

The statement by the Met Police was released shortly after Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, told the Commons the first set of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador is expected to be released "very shortly in early March".

Sir Keir Starmer has faced considerable criticism over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson to the position despite his links to Epstein.

Mr Jones told MPs this afternoon: “The Government intends to publish documents in tranches instead of one publication at the end of the process, given that we are unable to confirm how long that process will take.

“On that basis, the Government expects to be able to publish the first tranche of documents very shortly in early March.

“I should, however, inform the House that it remains the case that a subset of this first tranche of documents is currently subject to the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation.

“This includes correspondence between No10 and Lord Peter Mandelson, in which a number of follow up questions were asked."

The Conservatives accused the Government of acting “with the urgency of a tired sloth on a bank holiday Monday” in releasing the documents.

Addressing the Commons today, shadow cabinet minister Mike Wood said: “Careful work must not become a euphemism for managed delay.

“It is time the Government stopped treating Parliament like an inconvenient interruption to their schedule, stopped giving every impression that they have priorities working out who’s back to cover, and started providing some actual answers so that we can start to get to the bottom of this murky matter.”