Mandelson scandal is 'serious' for Starmer but PM is 'man of integrity' - Brown

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the BBC the situation facing Sir Keir Starmer is "serious" and suggested he might have been "too slow to do the right things" in the wake of the Peter Mandelson scandal.

But, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Brown backed Sir Keir as a "man of integrity" who had been "betrayed" by Lord Mandelson, and said Starmer was the right man to "clean up the system".

Brown's remarks came as police concluded a search of two homes linked to Mandelson, after suggestions he passed on market-sensitive government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson has not responded to the BBC's request for comment. The BBC understands his position is that he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.

Starmer is under mounting pressure from Labour MPs after he decided to appoint Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US - even though Mandelson's relationship with Epstein was a matter of public record at the time.

But the prime minister said earlier this week that Mandelson had lied to him, adding: "None of us knew the depths and the darkness of that relationship."

When asked if Sir Keir was the right man to take the country forward, Brown said: "Well, this is obviously serious. I mean, there's always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair, it happens to everybody about how their future should be gauged.

"But this is serious, and the task is very clear. We've got to clean up the system...and end the corruption and unethical behaviour. And if we don't do it, we'll pay a heavy price."

Brown, who was prime minister while Mandelson was in government, added that Sir Keir is "a man of integrity" who "wants to do the right things".

He said: "Perhaps he's been too slow to do the right things, but he must do the right things now, and let's judge what he does on what happens in the next few months, when he tries to, and I believe he will try, to clean up the system."

Email exchanges released in the latest Epstein files suggest Mandelson forwarded internal government information to Epstein, including a 2009 memo in which policy adviser Nick Butler wrote about the UK's struggling economy and recommended selling off government-held assets in order to raise public funds.

Another exchange indicates Mandelson gave Epstein advance notice of a €500bn bailout by the EU to save the ailing Euro in 2010.

Mandelson, who was then business secretary, also gave Epstein almost minute-by-minute updates in the days following the 2010 general election, when Labour lost its majority.

Brown said he believes Mandelson "betrayed" his country by leaking the information.

He said Mandelson's communications with Epstein "meant Britain was at risk because of that, the currency was at risk, some of the trading that would happen would be speculative as a result of that and there's no doubt that huge commercial damage could have been done and perhaps was done".

Brown said he felt "shocked, sad, angry, betrayed, let down" by the messages.

He said they indicate Mandelson was planning for a career outside government while he was business secretary during the response to the global financial crisis.

"The emails show that," he said. "They show that he was talking about writing a book while he was supposed to be a government minister. He was talking about how he would get a job after the government was over and talking about what banks would employ him.

"All these things were happening at one and the same time, so it was a complete betrayal of his colleagues and of the job that he was carrying out and, of course, it was a betrayal of the country."