The Metropolitan Police has apologised to a second parliamentary Speaker in two days after he was incorrectly named as the person who passed on information about Lord Mandelson, which led to his arrest.
Michael Forsyth, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, was named in reports as having warned the police that Lord Mandelson was going to flee to the British Virgin Islands.
It was actually Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, who had.
Lord Mandelson was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, regarding his time as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet in the 2000s.
He went with police from his home in Camden, north London, at about 4.15pm on Monday to a police station, where he was questioned for eight hours before being released on bail just after 1am.
Lord Mandelson was seen on Thursday for the first time since returning home from his arrest, appearing stony-faced as he left his house just after 1pm and returned at about 4pm.
The former Labour peer denies any wrongdoing.
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It emerged on Tuesday that he was arrested because police had been told he was a flight risk.
However, the wrong Speaker was named as the source of the claim.
After Lord Forsyth was named, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the House of Commons Speaker, told MPs on Wednesday morning it was actually he who had warned the police after he was passed the information while he was on holiday in the British Virgin Islands last week.
The Met apologised to Sir Lindsay on Wednesday, saying it had “inadvertently” revealed information about why Lord Mandelson had been taken into custody.
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Pic: Reuters
Now, the force has apologised to Lord Forsyth as well.
A spokesperson said on Thursday: “The Met has also apologised to the Speaker of the House of Lords, following the inadvertent revealing of information into allegations of misconduct in public office.”
Lawyers for Lord Mandelson denied the “baseless” allegation that he was going to flee, and said he had already agreed to attend a voluntary interview in a fortnight’s time.
They have also asked the Met for the “evidence relied upon to justify the arrest”.
Lord Mandelson was sacked as British ambassador to the US in September after it emerged he remained in close contact with billionaire Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction for paedophilia.
Sir Keir Starmer has said the former minister lied to him as part of the vetting process.
At the beginning of this month, the US Department of Justice released another tranche of Epstein emails, which revealed how close their relationship was.
Lord Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party to avoid causing “further embarrassment”, then stepped down from the House of Lords – but he remains a Lord in name as peerages can only be taken away through an Act of Parliament.
