Peter Mandelson was arrested after what his lawyers insist was a “baseless” suggestion that he was planning to flee to the British Virgin Islands.
The former Labour minister was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on Monday and later released on bail, following claims he had leaked sensitive government information to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The former peer’s law firm said there had been an agreement with police that he would be interviewed on a voluntary basis next month, but that had been hastily overturned.
In the statement issued on Tuesday evening, Mishcon de Reya said in a statement issued on Tuesday evening: “The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.”
On the News Agents podcast, Emily Maitlis read out details from a message she said had been sent from Lord Mandelson to a fellow journalist. In it, he said that “police arrested me because they claimed the Lord Speaker received information that I was about to flee to the British Virgin Islands,” and described this as “complete fiction”.
However, Lord Speaker Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said the accusation was “entirely false”.
