Lord Peter Mandelson today condemned police for arresting him and claimed their action was prompted by a ‘baseless’ suggestion he was planning to quit Britain.
The peer was held for around nine hours following his arrest on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
At around 1.15am on Tuesday, the 72-year-old was pictured as he was driven out of Wandsworth Police Station after being released on bail.
He is being investigated for passing sensitive information onto paedophile Jeffrey Epstein during his time as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
A statement on behalf of Lord Mandelson, released by legal firm Mishcon de Reya on Tuesday evening, said the arrest took place despite his agreement to voluntarily attend a police interview next month.
The statement also claimed the former Labour minister’s arrest ‘was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad’.
Lord Mandelson is said to have fumed to friends shortly after his release about a ‘complete fiction’ that he was planning to flee to the British Virgin Islands and leave his husband, Reinaldo, and dog, Jock, behind.
His lawyers said there was ‘absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion’ he was preparing to quit the UK and said the Metropolitan Police had been asked to reveal the evidence relied upon to justify his arrest.
They added Lord Mandelson’s ‘overriding priority’ is to cooperate with Scotland Yard’s investigation and ‘to clear his name’.
The Times reported that Lord Mandelson told friends shortly after his release: ‘Despite a previous agreement between police and legal team over a voluntary interview in early March, police arrested me because they claimed… that I was about to flee to the British Virgin Islands and take up permanent residence abroad, leaving Reinaldo, my family, home and Jock behind me.
‘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?’
Footage showed Lord Mandelson, who was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to the US in September last year, being led out of his house by a plain clothes police officer on Monday.
Two of the peer’s properties were previously searched by police in connection with the allegations, which surfaced following the US Department of Justice’s document dump related to Epstein last month.
As part of the so-called ‘Epstein files’, emails from 2009 appear to show Lord Mandelson pass on an assessment by Mr Brown’s adviser of potential policy measures including an ‘asset sales plan’.
He also appeared to discuss a tax on bankers’ bonuses and confirm an imminent bailout package for the euro the day before it was announced in 2010.
The emails appeared to be sent to Epstein after he became a convicted sex offender.
It is understood the Crown Prosecution Service is yet to offer any early investigative advice in relation to the allegations against Lord Mandelson.
The Cabinet Office previously referred material to police in connection with the probe into Lord Mandelson after an initial review of the Epstein files suggested ‘safeguards were compromised’.
Lord Mandelson has denied the Epstein files show he broke any laws or acted for personal gain. He has repeatedly said he regrets his friendship with Epstein.
The statement issued by his lawyers on Tuesday said: ‘Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday 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 (Metropolitan Police Service) 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.’
In a statement issued just after 2am on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation.
‘He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and was taken to a London police station for interview.
‘This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.
‘We are not able to provide further information at this stage to prevent prejudicing the integrity of the investigation.’
