UK government backs releasing documents tied to 'rude' ex-Prince Andrew

LONDON (AFP) — The U.K. government said Tuesday it supported the release of documents on ex-Prince Andrew’s past role as a trade envoy, hours after a veteran politician was quizzed by police in the widening Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

U.S. authorities last month published millions of files related to late sex offender Epstein, containing revelations that have rocked British political and royal circles.

It has ramped up pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to release its own vetting documents and sparked two separate, high-profile police investigations.

The Liberal Democrats party tabled a motion in Parliament Tuesday to force the government to release vetting documents on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy, a post he held from 2001 to 2011.

The former prince was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and his brother King Charles III has said the “law must take its course.”

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said Andrew’s association with Epstein, and that of former government minister Peter Mandelson, who was arrested Monday, were a “stain on our country.”

“We must begin to clean away that stain with the disinfectant of transparency,” he said.

The push for the files on Andrew comes as the government prepares to release in March a first set of documents relating to the appointment of Mandelson as U.K. ambassador in Washington.

Mandelson, a key figure in British politics for decades and Britain’s envoy to Washington till September, was arrested on Monday in a separate misconduct in public office probe, also related to his links to Epstein.

‘Rude, entitled’

Mandelson’s appointment has triggered a political storm with two of Starmer’s top aides resigning over the row and raising questions about the prime minister’s judgment.

Minister Chris Bryant told Parliament the government supported the release of the vetting documents from Andrew’s appointment as envoy under then-Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair 26 years ago.

He said it was “the least we owe the victims” of Epstein, adding Andrew was “a rude, arrogant and entitled man.”

Bryant cautioned, however, that the government would have to be guided by police as to what documents can be released so as not to jeopardize their investigation.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his titles last year, is being probed by police over allegations that he shared sensitive documents with Epstein during his time as envoy.

The former prince, long embroiled in scandals over his friendship with the late U.S. sex offender, has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, claimed she was trafficked three times to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor, starting in 2001 and twice when she was 17.

Andrew settled a U.S. civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre while not admitting liability.

When Andrew was appointed trade envoy, Mandelson was then a pivotal figure in the party helping to secure Blair’s election victory, ousting the Conservatives.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s biographer Andrew Lownie told AFP Blair and Mandelson “pushed his appointment through.”

‘Push ahead’

The motion brought to Parliament — called a “humble address” — was used successfully this month to compel Starmer to release documents related to Mandelson’s 2024 appointment as ambassador to Washington.

Mandelson was sacked from the top envoy role after just seven months over revelations about the depth of his ties to Epstein.

Government minister Bridget Phillipson told Sky News on Tuesday the government would “push ahead” with publishing the first of thousands of Mandelson documents in “early March,” despite his arrest.

She also cautioned that the police investigation could determine which documents are released.

Starmer has apologized to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson, and accused the ex-envoy of lying about the extent of his ties to the tycoon during the vetting process for his Washington posting.

Mandelson, who was released on bail early Tuesday, has previously apologized for his friendship with Epstein and insisted he did not know about the financier’s sexual offenses, despite Epstein’s 2008 conviction for child prostitution.

Neither Mandelson nor Andrew have been charged with any offense.

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By AKSHATA KAPOOR and PETER HUTCHISON, Agence France-Presse