'This is bonkers': The tip-off that led to Peter Mandelson's arrest
Lindsay Hoyle has admitted to tipping off the Police to what he believed was a credible suggestion that Peter Mandelson was planning to flee the country. Mandelson says the allegation are “baseless”.
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What’s the story?
Was Peter Mandelson about to flee the country? We may never know for sure – but House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle certainly thought he may have been.
Hoyle has revealed it was him who tipped off the police, leading to the unexpected arrest of the former Labour MP – who is believed to have been expected to attend a voluntary interview next week.
Instead, on Monday, he was arrested by police and taken from his Camden home in broad daylight in an unmarked car.
“Most people would say normal people don't get that,” says Emily Maitlis.
“Ordinary citizens do not get advised ahead of time that they're going to be invited into a police station for questioning with two weeks' notice.”
Hoyle was visiting the British Virgin Islands when he received a tip-off that it was the same destination Mandelson was allegedly planning to escape.
“I passed this on to the Metropolitan Police in good faith, as is my duty and responsibility,” Hoyle has said.
“It is regrettable that this rapidly ended in the media.”
Mandelson has denied the claims that he was planning to flee the country as “baseless”.
Mandelson, Epstein and the ‘complicity of secrecy’
Jon Sopel says the situation is “bonkers”, and while that may be the case, there is also a dark, bleak heart to this story.
"There are many weird, often disturbing, things about this story. This is definitely one of the most curious elements,” says Lewis Goodall.
“The Epstein Files is basically a grim living history of the way rich, powerful elites at the very top of different societies live.”
Details of the reasons for Mandelson’s arrest broke on Tuesday, after the former Labour MP himself told journalists in a message, sent at 4am in the morning, that flight risk concerns were the reason for his arrest.
“He is now directing journalists on his innermost thoughts because he thinks it will help him if he makes his own position known,” Emily says.
“If it was a complete fiction that he was going to flee, of course, he wants to make that known.
“But was it also ok for Lindsay Hoyle to hear he was and think that knowledge might be useful to police.”
She believes Hoyle felt “duty bound” to the British public to share what he had been told.
“Once again, it is sucking all the oxygen towards Mandelson, Epstein and this complicity of secrecy,” Emily adds.
Kemi Badenoch’s ‘paedo-protectors party’ accusation
Mandelson’s arrest, and Hoyle’s involvement, led to an uncomfortable moment for Keir Starmer – and Kemi Badenoch – when she addressed rumours during Prime Minister’s questions that Labour had been referred to as the “paedo protectors party” by the Women’s Labour Party.
“If you sow cynicism, it affects all parties – and the main losers from this are going to be Labour and the Conservatives,” says Jon.
He says it gives parties positioning themselves as alternatives to the political institutions, Reform and Green, an opportunity to distance themselves from the legacy parties.
“I don't think it damages Labour so much as it damages the brand of politics as a whole,” Jon adds.
Lewis says the use of the word signals an “extraordinary” situation that this is now normal in British politics.
“We’ve got the word 'paedo' being banded around on the floor of the House of Commons,” he says.
“That's not something that you usually hear at Prime Minister's questions.”