Why was Peter Mandelson messaging a journalist at 4am after his arrest?

What’s the story?

Monday night was a late one for Peter Mandelson.

The 72-year-old got home shortly before 2am in the early hours of Tuesday, following his arrest and subsequent release on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He was questioned into the night after being arrested at his home in Camden, London, following claims made in recently released documents in the Epstein Files which suggested he passed sensitive information to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a government minister.

Mandelson has previously said he doesn't believe he is guilty of criminal wrongdoing, or has broken the law.

Emily says a source has shared a message sent by Mandelson at 4am in the morning after his arrest, suggesting it occurred due to a suggestion he might flee the country for the British Virgin Islands, a claim he says is complete fiction.

Was Mandelson 'briefing against the MET' at 4am in the morning?

In the message, Mandelson says the police had to improvise an arrest, and that there is a question of who or what is behind it.

"The tenor of that sounds as if he is saying that the police arrested him because they had a tip off that he was going to flee," Emily says.

"None of that really makes sense when you pull it apart – the British Virgin Islands, which is obviously somewhere within a UK jurisdiction, within an extradition treaty, doesn't really sound logical."

But it’s his question of who or what is behind his arrest that she finds the most interesting.

"He's doubting the integrity of the police investigation, from the sounds of it,” she adds.

“Because he doesn't think that that was what he had previously agreed – which was a voluntary interview sometime next week."

'Inside, Mandelson was absolutely raging'

Photos and videos of Mandelson's arrest have been shared widely across social media, and the front pages of British newspapers. He is seen walking calmly to an unmarked police car with plain clothes policemen, no handcuffs, no restraints.

But The News Agents say that internally, Mandelson would have been furious, and it is believed he expected to attend a voluntary interview in the coming weeks.

"Inside he was absolutely raging, mentally kicking and screaming," Emily says.

"He was unable to believe that whatever they had agreed before – or he thought they had agreed – had somehow been broken, as if they had broken the bond of trust with him.

"You hear somebody who is quietly screaming, 'it's not fair, this was not meant to happen'."

Is he trying to 'spin' the situation?

Peter Mandelson was one of the first people in UK politics to be described as a 'spin doctor' - a PR expert able to put a positive spin on a negative situation.

Jon says he believes Mandelson's message suggests he was trying to PR his way out of his current situation.

"The criticism of Peter Mandelson when he was in government was always that he was an effective minister, he was an effective ambassador, but he couldn't stop talking about how effective an Ambassador he was," he says.

"Why would you start briefing against the Metropolitan Police when you have just emerged from being arrested? Doesn't that just muddy the waters?"

Jon suggests there may have been better things for him to be doing in the early hours of Tuesday.

"Here we have him, seemingly 'spinning' over an arrest," he adds.

"There is a time for silence and letting the wheels of justice turn, because whatever the grounds for the arrest, the Metropolitan Police are within their rights to do what they will.

"I find it very odd that Mandelson would think it was a smart thing to do to start a briefing war against the Met at four o'clock in the morning."

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