Gordon Brown and AMW

[Shadeflower]

Presumably the information GB is now presenting on AMW is stuff he had access to while he was in Governement? If so, why is he only speaking out now? Or did he try earlier and the establishment was such that even the PM couldn't be heard?

I like GB, always did, I'm curious about what it was that means he's only speaking out now.

I admire and applaud his active integrity in this issue.

I say ‘active’ because it is very easy to go on a TV programme or put out a sorrowful statement, but he is actually combining his inside knowledge with the data within the Epstein files and making conclusions in order to actually do something. Deeds not words.

He is 75 and could be sitting quietly in retirement, tutting at the scandal like so many are. But he has chosen not to do so.

i agree..

He can't report rumours, he has to have some hard evidence for speaking out and its the cross referencing and the constant flow of new information and witnesses coming forward now that the story is out there which has made this possible.

Rich powerful men get away with things because other rich powerful people do nothing.

Gordon Brown was the driver behind Sure Start children’s centres and the huge amount of money that poured into early childhood services in the early years of New Labour. Some money came directly from Treasury, under his watch as Chancellor.

That was the other side of the Granita pact. Blair would get to be PM but Gordon wanted some of his own social projects to be actioned.

It’s not credible that Mandelson and other powerful men rely on the I had no idea line even after Epstein was imprisoned.

I honestly think that AMW as badly behaved as he had been is a patsy and fallguy in all this. He's added a veneer of respectability before the wheels fell off and now he's the lightning rod for all the attention. Whilst Mandelson. Civil servants politicians and the police are all avoiding scrutiny .

Mandelson isn't avoiding scrutiny. His houses have been searched. It's only a matter of time for him, I reckon.

I'm just glad he has spoken out now so any concerns can be investigated by the police. Maybe he felt he couldn't speak put at the time, rather like women who have been raped but later come forward after they hear another woman has complained.

Well exactly.

He is 75 and could be sitting quietly in retirement, tutting at the scandal like so many are. But he has chosen not to do so.

This.

I thought he was trying to confirm stuff that come out recently and asked various police forces to investigate. He seems personally offended and using his own time and resources and what little influence his prior positions can offer to get prominent people like Mandelson and Andrew properly investigated.

I don't think that means he was previously sat on evidence was silenced by higher authority or is involved in some kind of cover up or taking flack way from others. I think this is a man despite having a poltical career has some integrity and is taking action.

As far as I'm aware he written to several police forces encouraging them to invesitgate two high profile people who seem to have done some serious crimes - the idea that make him part of the problem in some eyes is very depressing.

I don’t think these two should be compared. GB is not a victim, he was a very powerful man who utilised Mandelson - who was the architect of the success of new Labour. That person had close ties to Epstein after arrest.

A woman you describe is a victim and lacks any power.

the idea that make him part of the problem in some eyes is very depressing

GB ennobled Mandelson and brought him (?back) into Government something like 20 years ago, so he wasn't exactly a passive bystander in all this.

I absolutely agree GB is almost certainly not part of "the problem" if that problem is Epstein related but he's certainly one of the people responsible, maybe only in a tiny way, for elevating Mandleson into a position or positions he could then abuse...

Gordon Brown is a thoroughly decent man.

I read that Gordon Brown didn’t want Andrew as a trade envoy but Mandelson was insistent. I don’t know if this was while Tony Blair was still PM or if it was during Brown’s tenure.

He hasn’t been sitting on anything. He’s rooting through the Epstein files same as everyone else, but doing a better job! And adding it to his own intel.

GB’s an idiot, he as Chancellor thought it a great idea to sell off over a third of this country’s gold reserves @ a wonderfully knock down price, losing the taxpayer something like …oooh the odd £40billion. So is this a perfect example of “the pot calling the kettle black”?

Pretty obvious by now it’s Andrew Mountbatten Windsor

GB got a lot right although there were a couple of major bad calls (the gold for sure). But he comes from a place of principle and public service. Glad he’s got the bit between his teeth on this.

I’m really not sure how anyone could say it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black when it comparing him to the scum bucket that is AMW.

Does that mean GB can't criticise AMW? No. Does that cancel out all the good GB has done and is trying to do now? No.

Anyone wavering about the good egg-ness of Gordon Brown ought to read George Monbiot's piece the other week in the Guardian about how hard they tried to uncover what that slippery wanker Mandelson was up to, and all of it sanctioned by GB because it suited his government at the time.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/10/peter-mandelson-new-labour-jeffrey-epstein-corporate-power

I think the thing with AMW is a strong desire to keep the focus away from Mandelson. Also, GBs bleating about justice for women is a bit rich given he was PM when the grooming gangs were being swept under the carpet, at his request.

"in 2008 the Home office sent a circular to all police forces in the country saying ‘as far as these young girls who are being exploited in towns and cities, we believe they have made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour and therefore it is not for you police officers to get involved in.’”

Justice for women, my arse.

Gordon Brown always struck me as being very principled.
It's great that he is turning that to AMW in his retirement years

Although the whole Mandelson thing is terrible.

I'm assuming GB had no prior knowleged of Mandelson illegal activities or any inkling he'd comit any given a chance.

I've heard interviews from many of Mandleson former collgeues who were uttery floored and staggered about his behavior that come out in Epstein files.

I've never rated Mandelson but I only saw him via media and him losing government positions in swirl of scandel - but many of the people who worked with him did and they all seem very shocked. Blare, Brown and Starmer all gave him a high ranking posts.

GB seem to be encouraging police forces to investigate and the reponse well why didn't he look in his crystal ball or read the tea leaves right as if it was obvious occurance rather than deeply shocking behavior that seems to have blindsided quite a few people.

I do agree it's a failure in a lot of places that this wasn't picked up sooner or that it's taken so long for US government to release the files. If any investigation then find people could have picked this up earlier fair enough point all the fingers you have their way.

May be bound by an Oath of Office or some diplomatic rule. Issues can be raised with the Monarch at the weekly meeting but who knew what back then? And how do you raise it with the Queen? One last thing Liz, your son's been living it up on some nonce villains island

But Epstein was arrested in 2008 and Mandelson continued to be close after that. That’s when GB was PM. He would have known Epstein had committed those crimes.