UK police receive misconduct reports after Mandelson allegations

Police are investigating a number of reports relating to alleged misconduct in a public office after Peter Mandelson was accused of leaking sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The UK's former ambassador to the United States features a number of times in millions of pages released by the US Department of Justice as part of the so-called "Epstein files."

The country's top civil servant has been tasked with carrying out a review after documents apparently showed Mandelson passing information to Epstein while the current member of the House of Lords, Britain's upper chamber, was a Cabinet minister in Gordon Brown's government.

Documents released by the US Department of Justice indicate Epstein was sent details of internal discussions from the heart of the UK government after the global financial crisis.

Mandelson, the then-business secretary, appeared to tell Epstein he would lobby ministers over a tax on bankers' bonuses in 2009, and to confirm an imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.

Bank statements from 2003 and 2004 appeared to show he received payments totalling $75,000 from the financier, and Epstein is also said to have paid for an osteopathy course for Mandelson's husband.

In a statement issued on Monday, Metropolitan Police 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."

Following the document dump on Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged Mandelson to quit the House of Lords, with his office saying the prime minister believes he should "not be a member ... or use the title."

Starmer's office said he had asked Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald to conduct "an urgent review" looking at "all available information regarding Mandelson's contacts with Epstein during his period as a government minister."

Former prime minister Brown said he had asked Wormald to investigate the disclosure of "confidential and market sensitive information" during the global financial crisis.

Elsewhere, Britain's King Charles III has been urged to contact lawyers representing a woman who claims to have been sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The former prince has also featured in the documents on a number of occasions, including images which appear to show him crouched over an unidentified woman who is lying on the floor.

Brad Edwards, from the US firm Edwards Henderson, previously told the BBC his client had spent the night with Andrew after being given a tour of Buckingham Palace.

His colleague Brittany Henderson said any evidence Andrew would give in relation to the allegations against him would be "irrelevant" – adding that a "sincere and real apology" from the king would be the only way to "maintain any level of credibility."