Top Tory demands Labour 'transparency' on Peter Mandelson over Jeffrey Epstein leaks: 'Why was he appointed?!'

Lord Mandelson has been reported to the police over allegations he leaked Downing Street files to the late convicted paedophile.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it will review "a number of reports" following the further release of the documents relating to the paedophile financier.

Asked by host Eamonn Holmes what he believes should happen to Lord Mandelson, Mr Burghart told the People's Channel: "Look, it's very good that the police are investigating.

"It looks like he totally abused his position in 2009, when he was leaking market-sensitive information to his rich associates, and I'm very, very glad that the Met Police are looking into it.

"And I think there are two other things, the first is why on earth was this man appointed as our ambassador in the first place? I find it very difficult to believe that the vetting process that the Government had in place didn't pick this up.”

He explained: "People knew that he'd been friends with Epstein for a long time and maintained his relationship way past the point when Epstein had been convicted. Who made the call to appoint him anyway?

"The Government just needs to produce those documents, produce the documents the Prime Minister saw, and produce the documents the Prime Minister's team saw. Stop hiding, let's get it all out in the open."

Arguing there is "a lot more to unearth" in the investigation, the Tory MP said: "And then the other thing is, I think it hasn't been talked about nearly enough is what was Mandelson doing whilst he was in Washington last year whilst he was our ambassador.

"If he behaved like this when he was last in Government, then there's every chance that he was doing the same thing when he was in Washington.

"And as I mentioned in the Commons yesterday, we know that in February last year he introduced the Prime Minister to a massive American data company that had been one of his clients at Global Council in his company. So I just think there's a lot more to unearth here."

Pressed by host Dawn Neesom on whether the judgements of Sir Keir Starmer must come into question, Mr Burghart agreed: "Absolutely, people knew that Mandelson had had this friendship with Epstein, why on earth didn't they dig into it further?

"Or did they dig into him further and decide that they were just just going to brush this under the carpet?

"Ultimately, somebody needs to take responsibility for the fact that Mandelson was sent to Washington. And at the moment, nobody in the Labour Government is taking responsibility."

Calling on Lord Mandelson to "do the noble thing" and resign his peerage, Mr Burghart told GB News: "I would hope that he would just resign his lordship, to be honest, and I think that would be the noble thing to do.

"But I suspect he won't do that, and so we've got to go through a process because the police are investigating. Let them do that.

"We believe in due process. And obviously there's a process that you go through in the House of Lords, which I think if he was convicted would be extremely straightforward. So yeah, none of this needs to take very long."

In a statement, Scotland Yard Commander Ella Marriott said: "We are aware of the further release of millions of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein by the United States Department of Justice.

"Following this release and subsequent media reporting, the Met has received a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in a public office.

"The reports will all be reviewed to determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation. As with any matter, if new and relevant information is brought to our attention we will assess it, and investigate as appropriate."

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