Mandelson

[CollieModdle]

Should he / will he face criminal charges?
For sending sensitive / confidential information to Epstein?

Obviously the man’s integrity was in the sewer and it would break every code of good practice in public office to discuss raising Epstein’s point of view with the Chancellor but that probably counts as misconduct rather than criminal?

But forwarding sensitive e mails that could threaten the financial security of the country?

Well that I do agree with! But we always knew that....

I don't think any party can end the sleaze in politics. It is a feature not a bug and always has been.

Of course he doesn't. 😉 I'd really love to know who took the pic and honestly... why!

Something we will never know I suppose, but it's iconic. Gay man passing classified documents to a female in a bathrobe, photographed by anonymous. You couldn't make it up.

Oh yes I agree with you. But Labour did claim that that’s what they were going to do . Or at least Starmer did

I assumed a hidden camera? One in a lamp on a table?

Also that woman looks very much like a familiar jam seller who also likes a hidden camera/recording device....

Hidden cameras? God knows what was going on, but even the Prince of Darkness isn't going to slime out of this one. I think he might end up in jail.

Insider trading is one of the offenses being considered.

If the insider trading can be proved PM should go to jail.
If he has given information to this countries enemies he should be done for treason.
If it can be proved he knew or took part in the Epstein trafficking, then again, jail him.
Sentences, if proven, to run consecutively so we never have to look at him again.

Now there are rumours that Epstein was a Russian spy - or certainly close to Putin.
If true, why hadn’t American intelligence picked up on that?

I'm not sure what will happen to him. Depends on which jurisdiction or arm of the law can/are willing/are allowed to procure charges against him I suppose. Apparently the pic was taken in Epstein's Paris flat, so is that up to the French, or UK, or even the US. Sorry I'm a bit punch drunk by all this. So slimy and it makes you wonder how bad the whole thing is. Looks like law abiding citizens are in the minority sometimes.

Yep

@38thparallel those rumours would make a lot of sense - closeness anyway rather than any formal 007 situation. There is a huge amount of money there so if he was doing a lot of business with or fixing for them he would inevitably be raking it in.
It would go towards explaining how his death occurred and why the relevant security camera was off at the right time. A sophisticated external hit for those sort of reasons by entities powerful and skilled enough to do that kind of thing is more plausible than any other theory about why his death might not have been a suicide.

Was Epstein supposed to be a Russian spy or a Mossad spy or both ?

Both, according to one theory. Mossad links Epstein back to Robert Maxwell. The deal with Putin had Epstein secretly filming in his various houses, gathering kompromat on all those stupid senior men in thrall to Epstein.

I think he could be charged here in the UK with misconduct in public office/breaking the Official Secrets Act/ insider trading. We will see.

At the time, da Silva claimed that he was training to be an osteopath. The General Osteopath Council have released this statement saying they've never registered him. Interestingly, they have also pointed out that it is a criminal offence to claim to be one of their members when not registered. Apologies if this has already been posted and I've missed it.

Our statement on reports of Jeffrey Epstein funding osteopathy course for Reinaldo Avila da Silva - General Osteopathic Council

Section 32(1) of the Osteopaths Act 1993 (the 1993 Act) makes it a criminal offence for a person who is not registered with the GOsC to describe themselves, either expressly or by implication, as any kind of osteopath. S32(1) applies to the United Kingdom

It would go towards explaining how his death occurred and why the relevant security camera was off at the right time.

@GreenRedFlowers I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.

Just when you thought politics and politicians could not stoop lower, it gets even more sordid.

No matter what your political bent is (this is tbe Telegraph) this is actually a fairly thorough summing up of Mandelsons's career. For those that don't know his history.

Morgan McSweeney is closely linked with Mandelsons. He is said to be a key architect of Keir Starmer’s tough on migration strategy to counter the rise of Reform UK. But people say it is hypocritical for a senior aide to be in charge of immigration policies while his own father has been running an Irish firm that pocketed £6 million from the state to house asylum seekers. Is this borderline corruption? Conflict of interest? Or nothing to see...

Also, it it confirmed that Mandelson has resigned form House of Lords? What does this mean in practice? He obviously still has his peerage. Why did he resign? Was he pushed to do it? Can he just come back if he so choses?

Only catching up with things, so he has resigned from the Labour party not just his position in House of Lords? How can he still be the ambassador?

I’ve noticed in the last few days a trend where male media figures can’t help themselves but partially defend Mandelson due to him being supposedly witty and clever and they all had a good relationship with him: Matthew Parris and Daniel Finkelstein in the Times, Adam Boulton on sky news who essentially seemed to me to be saying that it was all ok because as a gay man Mandelson couldn’t possibly have got up to anything dodgy with Epstein, and what about Trump?

Funny that women don’t seem to have been quite so bowled over by him.

He hasn't been ambassador for ages. He was sacked last September.

Eta: that wasn't ages ago, but it feels like it! Politics moves so fast.

Also having worked in Banking for 30 years us mere minions were regularly told in training courses that any hint of sharing any market information or accidentally “tipping off” someone off that we suspected of something dodgy, we faced instant dismissal for gross misconduct and criminal proceedings. It actually used to make me quite paranoid dealing with people and security. Yet Peter Mandelson can send random insecure emails disclosing all sorts