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  "path": "/news/1975455/uk-govt-backs-releasing-documents-tied-to-rude-ex-prince-andrew",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-24T14:50:30.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
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    "published",
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  "textContent": "The UK government said on Tuesday it supported the release of documents on ex-prince Andrew’s past role as a trade envoy, hours after a veteran politician was quizzed by police in the widening Jeffrey Epstein scandal.\n\nUS authorities last month published millions of files related to late sex offender Epstein, containing revelations which have rocked British political and royal circles.\n\nIt has ramped up pressure on Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to release its own vetting documents and sparked two separate, high-profile police investigations.\n\nThe Liberal Democrats party tabled a motion in parliament on Tuesday to force the government to release vetting documents on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as trade envoy, a post he held from 2001 to 2011.\n\nThe former prince was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and his brother King Charles III has said the “law must take its course”.\n\nLiberal Democrats leader Ed Davey said Andrew’s association with Epstein, and that of former government minister Peter Mandelson, who was arrested Monday, were a “stain on our country”.\n\n“We must begin to clean away that stain with the disinfectant of transparency,” he said.\n\nThe push for the files on Andrew comes as the government prepares to release in March a first set of documents relating to the appointment of Mandelson as UK ambassador in Washington.\n\nMandelson, a key figure in British politics for decades and Britain’s envoy to Washington till September, was arrested on Monday in a separate misconduct in public office probe, also related to his links to Epstein.\n\n## ‘Rude, entitled’\n\nMandelson’s appointment has triggered a political storm with two of Starmer’s top aides resigning over the row and raising questions about the prime minister’s judgment.\n\nMinister Chris Bryant told parliament the government supported the release of the vetting documents from Andrew’s appointment as envoy under then-Labour prime minister Tony Blair 26 years ago.\n\nHe said it was “the least we owe the victims” of Epstein, adding Andrew was “a rude, arrogant and entitled man”.\n\nBryant cautioned, however, that the government would have to be guided by police as to what documents can be released so as not to jeopardise their investigation.\n\nMountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his titles last year, is being probed by police over allegations that he shared sensitive documents with Epstein during his time as envoy.\n\nThe former prince, long embroiled in scandals over his friendship with the late US sex offender, has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.\n\nVirginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, claimed she was trafficked three times to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor, starting in 2001 and twice when she was 17.\n\nAndrew settled a US civil lawsuit in 2022 brought by Giuffre while not admitting liability.\n\nWhen Andrew was appointed trade envoy, Mandelson was then a pivotal figure in the party, helping to secure Blair’s election victory, ousting the Conservatives.\n\nMountbatten-Windsor’s biographer Andrew Lownie told _AFP_ Blair and Mandelson “pushed his appointment through”.\n\n## ‘Push ahead’\n\nThe motion brought to parliament — called a “humble address” — was used successfully this month to compel Starmer to release documents related to Mandelson’s 2024 appointment as ambassador to Washington.\n\nMandelson was sacked from the top envoy role after just seven months over revelations about the depth of his ties to Epstein.\n\nGovernment minister Bridget Phillipson told _Sky News_ on Tuesday the government would “push ahead” with publishing the first of thousands of Mandelson documents in “early March”, despite his arrest.\n\nShe also cautioned that the police investigation could determine which documents are released.\n\nStarmer has apologised to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson, and accused the ex-envoy of lying about the extent of his ties to the tycoon during the vetting process for his Washington posting.\n\nMandelson, who was released on bail early on Tuesday, has previously apologised for his friendship with Epstein and insisted he did not know about the financier’s sexual offences, despite Epstein’s 2008 conviction for child prostitution.\n\nNeither Mandelson nor Andrew has been charged with any offence.",
  "title": "UK govt backs releasing documents tied to ‘rude’ ex-prince Andrew"
}