Peter Mandelson-Jeffrey Epstein scandal shows urgent need for House of Lords reform

There are many questions arising from the latest revelations about the shockingly close links between former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The SNP’s Stephen Flynn has reported Mandelson to the police over allegations that, while serving in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet, he leaked sensitive information to Epstein following the 2008 financial crash.

Keir Starmer has also asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald to conduct “an urgent review” looking at “all available information regarding Mandelson’s contacts with Epstein during his period as a government minister”.

READ MORE: Peter Mandelson should lose peerage over Epstein links, says Scots Labour MP

Peter Mandelson pictured in the White House with Donald Trump when he was working as the UK Ambassador to the US (Picture: Anna Moneymaker) | Getty Images

Mandelson’s peerage is for life

Emails released by the US Department of Justice as part of the ‘Epstein files’ appear to suggest that, in 2009, Mandelson advised Epstein that the boss of JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the Chancellor over a planned tax on bankers’ bonuses, and that he gave Epstein advance notice of the European Union’s massive euro currency bailout.

There are also documents that, if genuine, suggest Epstein gave Mandelson money. Mandelson is said to have no “recollection of receiving payments”.

However, whatever happened in this case, one thing should be clear: the farcical situation in which a life peer cannot be formally stripped of their peerage without a law being passed must change.

READ MORE: Lord Mandelson resigns Labour membership over Epstein links

Currently, Mandelson could resign or retire as a sitting member of the Lords, but cannot be forced to do so and, even if he did, he would remain a peer as titles cannot be relinquished. The last time a peerage was removed was when parliament passed a law to deal with Lords who sided with the Germans in the First World War.

The Prime Minister has made clear he thinks Mandelson should not remain a member of the Lords – an opinion we share, based on what is already known and admitted. The government has also announced it plans to modernise the disciplinary procedures for peers so they can be removed for bringing the Lords into disrepute.

We wholeheartedly support this move but it should be just the first of many changes. The House of Lords, the world’s second-largest legislative chamber, is long overdue for root-and-branch reform to bring it out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st century.