𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Lord Mandelson has claimed he was arrested over the “complete fiction” he was preparing to flee to the Caribbean. The former Labour minister who was appointed as US Ambassador by Sir Keir Starmer before being ousted over his links to the convicted American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein made the sensational claim after his arrest last night.

He claimed that the Metropolitan Police force had intended to interview him in two weeks time, rather than collar him over claims he had handed the financier secret government documents. Scotland Yard was told on Monday that claims were circulating that the so-called ‘Prince of Darkness’ was plotting to bolt for the British Virgin Islands.

Met Officers arrested him on Monday afternoon that he had been held for nine hours before being released on bail early Tuesday morning. The disgraced Blair-era grandee reportedly told friends he had agreed with the police to give a voluntary interview in early March, adding that he was arrested because “they claimed […] that I was about to flee to the British Virgin Islands and take up permanent residence abroad”.

Lord Mandelson, according to the Times newspaper, lamented to pals that he would have to leave his dog and his husband behind if he did make a break for it. He reportedly said: “I need hardly say complete fiction. The police were told only today that they had to improvise an arrest. The question is, who or what is behind this?”

He has denied wrongdoing. Both Lord Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who last week became the first member of the royal family in centuries to be arrested, have both been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who was deprived of his title by the King, has also denied wrongdoing and was arrested Thursday last week.

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A spokesman for the law firm Mishcon de Reya, who are acting on behalf of Lord Mandelson said: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday [Monday] despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis. The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.

“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion. We have asked the MPS for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest. Peter Mandelson’s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.”

The Met declined to comment.