The pretty grim domestic news that broke yesterday was some of the continuing fallout from the release of the Epstein documents by the FBI in the United States. Peter (Lord) Mandelson is already shown in some strange photographs (eg in his underpants with a woman) and seems to have been the recipient of up to $75,000 from the disgraced paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein but more was to be revealed. Sir Keir Starmer is set to chair a cabinet meeting today as police assess allegations his former US ambassador Lord Mandelson leaked sensitive information from the heart of government to Jeffrey Epstein. The Met are investigating allegations of misconduct in public office after emails appeared to show conversations between the ex-cabinet minister and paedophile financier about political matters, while the former was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government in 2009. The messages were about plans to tax the bonus of ‘top’ bankers so here we have the release of sensitive political information from which others could benefit financially. The messages were revealed as part of the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Justice Department. Ella Marriott, Commander of the Met, said they would be reviewed to determine if they meet the criminal threshold for investigation. It had always been well known that Mandelson was always seeking out the company of the rich and famous and had been sacked from at least two Labour governments beforehand. So, there were some in the Labour Party who always distrusted him and the shock and horror exhibited by former colleagues was manifest in media interviews during the evening. Mandelson would never dare show his face in the House of Lords and probably intends to be a ‘sleeping’ one. But although Keir Starmer would like Mandelson to resign from the House of Lords and even has his peerage removed, the latter is complex and may even require an Act of Parliament. Under the 2014 House of Lords Reform Act, Mandelson could resign from the Lords and relinquish his peerage. But this would not strip him of the title – he would still be free to call himself Lord Peter Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool. There is another way he could go quietly without resigning. His current leave of absence from the Lords lasts until the end of the parliamentary session in May. He is no longer US ambassador, the reason for his absence, so he needs to come back and retake the oath in the Lords in the next session. If he does not do so by the end of that next session, his membership automatically lapses. But again, he would keep the title. No doubt, when there are next reforms to the House of Lords, the procedures for expelling an errant peer will be revised and brought up-to-date but the procedure as it stands at the moment is not a straight forward one. Nor is the scandal confined to Peter Mandelson as yesterday ‘The Times‘ published a photograph of Epstein which appeared to show him grappling with or at least attempting to kiss a girl lying on a sofa and one of Epstein’s hands appears from my reading of the photo trying to insert itself into her clothing which is compromising in the extreme (but strangely this damning photo does not appear elsewhere in the media despite its publication the day before in ‘The Times’)
I spent a certain amount of time catching up on the news from our domestic help and then treated myself to a rather belated breakfast of porridge. Then after being immersed in some of the daily news, I ventured into town to brave the biting cold wind and the rain carried with it to pick up a copy of my newspaper. I got some money out of the ATM in anticipation of the weekly shopping to be done tomorrow and then looked around my local ‘Poundland’ but did not manage to find the things for which I was looking and so I drove home in order to prepare for Pilates. I was particularly glad to get home afterwards as the weather is so unpleasant and so raided my freezer and found some spare curry which just needed a heating up in the microwave. After a nap I the afternoon, I caught up with the news of the day which was Peter Mandelson had anticipated that he was shortly to be thrown out of the House of Lords and accordingly had resigned his membership of the upper chamber even as Keir Starmer and the Labour cabinet were preparing legislation to terminate his membership had he not quit of his own accord. Now the only remaining question in Mandelson’s spectacular fall from grace is the question of how and whether he is stripped of his peerage. I think the sense of outrage is so strong in our political classes that it is quite possible that a one clause bill could be quickly passed through Parliament to actually put this into effect. It is now almost certain that the Metrooilitan police are considering whether actual crimes have been committed and the one piece of legislation that is being used is probably ‘Misconduct in Public Office’ which describes pretty well what has been going on. The only possible line of defence that Mandelson could deploy is to argue that the FBI evidence is all ‘faked’ but presumably it is possible to resurrect Bank Archives in a case s serious as this to prove the authenticity of the FBI data dump. But whilst so much attention is being paid on this side of the Atlantic, on the other side there is also a search for the ‘smoking gun’ which might directly implicate Donald Trump. But whilst a ‘smoking gun’ may well exist, it is certain that the Trump regime will fight tooth and nail to ensure that this never sees the light of day and when Trump finally falls, it may well be that critical files have been completely deleted by the FBI or have mysteriously gone missing. In a regime so ideologically committed as the present Trump regime, it is almost inconceivable that the power centres that be will stop at nothing to protect Donald Trump from having to leave office in disgrace or to face gaol and so justice may never actually done. In the evening I had a couple of episodes of ‘Yes,Prime Minister’ to which to look forward and there is also a biography of the life of Mozart which suggested itself on YouTube to complete my evening’s viewing.