Keir Starmer will attempt to get ahead of the widening scandal over Peter Mandelson\u2019s conduct with the expected release of files relating to his appointment as Britain\u2019s US ambassador, in what a minister has described as \u201cdrawing a line in the sand\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives had been preparing to force the publication of the records \u2013 including what Mandelson may have told Starmer about his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> before being appointed to Washington \u2013 with a motion in the Commons.<\/p>\n Rather than face a difficult vote amid anger among his own MPs, the prime minister has ordered the publication of those records \u2013 emails, documents and messages \u2013 apart from those deemed prejudicial to national security or that could damage diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n It is understood the government\u2019s intention is to be transparent while avoiding a situation where all the communications get published.<\/p>\n A government amendment to the Conservatives\u2019 motion that would compel the release of the documents is expected to pass.<\/p>\n The Guardian understands that officials are working through the material but that it is unlikely to be ready to be published on Wednesday. The documents identified for release will need to be assessed to check whether they will first need to be seen by the police.<\/p>\n Scotland Yard has formally launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Mandelson leaked Downing Street emails<\/a> and market sensitive information to Epstein. Documents from the Epstein files released in the US appeared to show the then business secretary sent confidential details of internal discussions to the disgraced financier in the aftermath of the financial crash.<\/p>\n Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said on Wednesday that the prime minister was going for \u201cmaximum transparency\u201d and would be \u201cdrawing a line in the sand\u201d.<\/p>\n It was clear from the US Department of Justice\u2019s latest release that Mandelson had not told \u201cthe whole truth\u201d, said Streeting, adding that the prime minister\u2019s \u201cworst fears\u201d had been confirmed.<\/p>\n Streeting spoke in a series of morning interviews about his own \u201cdeep sense of betrayal\u201d over the revelations about Mandelson, who had backed him as a rising MP. Asked about the deletion of photos from his social media feed that showed him with Mandelson in the past, he said he had done so because others including his mother and Labour<\/a> volunteers had featured in them.<\/p>\n He told Times Radio: \u201cI cannot state strongly enough how bitterly that betrayal feels for those of us in the Labour party who feel very personally let down and also feel that he, as well as betraying two prime ministers, betraying our country and betraying Epstein\u2019s victims, has fundamentally betrayed our values and the things that motivate us and the things that brought us into politics, which is public service and national interest, not self-service and self-interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about new claims by the prime minister of Poland that Epstein may have been a Russian spy, Streeting told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme that he was not in a position to comment on that, but added: \u201cI do think we need to look seriously at Epstein\u2019s connections and in whose interests he was acting.\u201d<\/p>\n