Peter Mandelson is at the centre of a public scandal, following revelations of his ties with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
This included documents which suggest that Mandelson had received three payments totalling $75,000 (£55,000) from Epstein, and emails in which he appears to have shared sensitive information with the disgraced financier when he was business secretary under Gordon Brown.
Alongside years of correspondence with Epstein, there is also a picture of Mandelson in his underwear, talking to a woman in a dressing gown. Mandelson says he has “no record or recollection” of the payments, and expressed regret at “ever having known Epstein”.
As a result, the Metropolitan Police has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of misconduct in public office, with two of Mandelson’s properties — his Wiltshire rental and his £7.6 million Camden home — searched last week. Mandelson has not yet commented publicly on the police investigation.
Mandelson has been forced to resign before. In 1998, he was sacked as trade secretary after failing to disclose a secret property loan from fellow MP Geoffrey Robinson, and there have long been questions about how he financed some of his pricier property purchases.
As Mandelson’s homes have been thrust into the public eye, here’s a closer look at where he lives — and his murky property history.
Mandelson’s Wiltshire home was searched by police last week — featuring a day later in the Sunday Times Magazine’s controversial cover story.
The house, which is relatively isolated, sits in an acre of private land, with views of the Marlborough Downs. “I am a step nearer to realising my dream of a farming life,” wrote Mandelson in his Diary column for The Spectator in 2014.
“I am going to rent a modest dwelling in deepest Wiltshire next door to the herdsman and his family. My lambing and milking skills will soon be tested. Baa and moo.”
In the Sunday Times Magazine last week, the former Labour peer was photographed in the kitchen, cooking on his purple Aga with his dog at his feet. The pictures reveal grey Shaker-style cabinetry, a faux-wooden floor, and a limited edition print of Dining in Paris by the artist Beryl Cook hung by the window.
Jarringly, considering the allegations against him, Mandelson is also pictured sitting with his feet up in a tan leather armchair next to a row of what appears to be strategically selected books: Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist; Georgios Varouzakis’ The West; Andrew Roberts’ biography of Alfred Harmsworth, The Chief.
And in another image, he is seated in a curved black leather chair next to a mug which reads: “Deescalate!”.
On Friday’s police search, officers were seen entering the property carrying unfolded archive boxes and also investigating outhouses.
Empty flat pack boxes are taken into the home of Lord Peter Mandelson in Camden (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)
PA Wire
Mandelson also owns a four-storey townhouse near Regent’s Park, which he reportedly bought for £7.6 million in 2011. This was also searched by the police last week.
The Grade II-listed, Gothic revival property is in one of London’s most exclusive districts and is thought to feature a wine cellar and a two-storey atrium, which once served as an alms-house.
Emails released in the latest tranche of the Epstein Files show that Mandelson followed advice from Epstein while house-hunting for the property. Epstein sent links to various homes, counselling in April 2010: “I think a pied de terre in town is the solution.”
In June 2011, Mandelson sent Epstein a link to a house near Regent’s Park listed by Knight Frank. The following month, Epstein wrote: “I think house is not riskless , but on balance a good thing„ ( now you have it in writing° (sic).” It is unclear whether they were talking about the same property.
Mandelson also asked Epstein about his mortgage in June 2011, writing: “If I want this house, which I do, I’ll have to borrow 4m from bank at 3pc interest. Do you think that’s all right?” Epstein replied: “Yes”.
At the time, the property’s £8 million price tag drew questions around how Mandelson — who had stepped down as European Commissioner in 2009 — could afford to buy it. He was working as a paid adviser to Lazard Ltd., and ran his own consultancy, Global Counsel.
“As a cabinet minister Lord Mandelson earned a decent wage and more when he was at the European Commission,” said Tory MP Richard Bacon in 2012. “But it is a matter of public interest how he can afford such an expensive home within barely a year of leaving government.”
Mandelson’s property is near Primrose Hill
Daniel Lynch
Such questions about how Mandelson had funded his property purchases were not new at the time. In 2006, he had bought a pink, stucco-fronted villa, also near Regent’s Park, for £2.4 million.
Mandelson, then European Commissioner, was on a salary of around £160,000 a year – relatively modest in comparison to his then-neighbours, who included former England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson and theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh. At more than 16 times his income, there was speculation around how Mandelson would have secured a mortgage on the £2.4 million property.
At the time, The Standard launched an investigation into how Mandelson had paid for the house he had purchased in 2006. It looked at his income from other property sales, money inherited after his mother’s death, other forms of employment and the amount he was likely to have been able to borrow, concluding that there was still a shortfall.
“Even on the most generous possible analysis, we have established that there appears to be a substantial gap between the amount of money he was able to raise and the price he paid for his latest house.”
When contacted for comment at the time, a spokesperson for Mandelson refused to answer if he had received any gifts or loans, other than his mortgage, to help him buy the property. She said that the Standard had “made incorrect assumptions” but refused to elaborate when pressed.
Mandelson bought a property on Northumberland Place in 1996
Handout
Concerns about Mandelson’s properties did not come out of nowhere. Notoriously, the former peer was embroiled in another scandal regarding his Notting Hill house.
In 1996, Mandelson accepted a secret £373,000 loan from MP and millionaire businessman Geoffrey Robinson to “acquire and refurbish” a £475,000 house in on Northumberland Place in Notting Hill. Mandelson also took out a £150,000 mortgage on the property.
However, it later emerged that Mandelson had failed to declare the loan, despite his own department investigating Robinson over an unrelated matter.
An investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner ruled that Mandelson should have registered the loan, and Mandelson was forced to resign as Trade Secretary in 1998.
Other previous properties
Mandelson owned a terrace in Hartlepool (Owen Humphreys/PA)
PA Archive
Before purchasing his Camden homes, Mandelson made a number of lucrative property investments. In 1999, after selling his house on Northumberland Place, he bought a one-bedroom flat in nearby Pembridge Villas for £249,000, refurbishing it and selling it 19 months later for £545,000, a 118 per cent rise in value.
Afterwards, he moved to a penthouse off Trafalgar Square, which he purchased for £884,000 in 2003, per The Telegraph. He sold it for £1.2 million not long after.
Mandelson, who was MP for Hartlepool between 1992 and 2004, also owned a property in the constituency. He bought the terraced house for £69,000 in 1990, coming under fire in 2009 for allegations that he claimed expenses to renovate the property.
Mandelson’s expenses revealed a £1,350 invoice from a decorator and another for £1,500 for his gardener, which were both submitted within five days of him being appointed as European Commissioner. A further £385 invoice for work on the roof and garden followed, according to The Telegraph.
Mandelson denied the claims and said that the report had used “classic smear tactics”, insisting that the gardening was required because his trees were damaging neighbours’ properties.