Jeffrey EpsteinLabour PartyPrince AndrewRoyal FamilyUK GovernmentWestminsterNational governmentPolitics
FILES related to the disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his position as a UK trade envoy will be published after theUK Governmentagreed to MPs' demands.
However, during aCommonsdebate in which Andrew was widely derided including as “a rude, arrogant and entitled man”, MPs were told the Government is unable to publish material that police need for their inquiries until officers are “satisfied”.
The former duke faces accusations of sharing sensitive information with his paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein while acting as a special representative for trade and investment between 2001 and 2011. Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from a minor in 2008.
Andrew wasarrested and taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office last week, before being released under investigation.
On Monday,Peter Mandelson was also arrested following similar allegationsof passing sensitive information to Epstein, this time during his tenure asbusinesssecretary. The former Labour ministerwas released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday.
In the Commons, trade minister Chris Bryant described Andrew as “a man on a constant self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle” and “a rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest, which he said he served, and his own private interest”.
Bryant backed Liberal Democrat-led calls to publish the papers on Andrew’s role, including any vetting and any correspondence from Mandelson.
The party used a humble address, the same arcane mechanism theToriesused to press for the release of files on Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, to pressure the Government.
READ MORE:John Swinney told details of Peter Murrell charge 10 months before public, files show
Source: Drudge Report
