LABOUR MPs questioned Lord Peter Mandelson’s continuing influence over ministers after he was reported to police today for allegedly leaking confidential Downing Street files to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Metropolitan Police has been asked to investigate whether the peer and key architect of New Labour may have committed misconduct in public office when he was business secretary.

Documents released by the US justice department revealed that, in 2009, Lord Mandelson had forwarded an economic briefing for Gordon Brown to Epstein captioning it: “Interesting note that’s gone to the PM.”

The email showed government officials considering tax plans and asset sales in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The files also showed Lord Mandelson, who resigned from Labour on Sunday night, appearing to say JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon should “threaten” then-chancellor Alistair Darling over a bankers’ bonus tax. Further published emails suggest he may have advised Epstein in advance of other sensitive information, including a €500 billion eurozone bailout in 2010.

The peer has claimed he has no record of Epstein allegedly paying him $75,000 (£55,000) in three separate transactions in 2003 and 2004, adding that he believes the claim is “false” but will investigate.

Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington Ian Lavery said: “Mandelson’s tentacles reach deep into the heart of the Labour Party.

“He played a central role in installing the current leadership and in maintaining its position.

“Given what has now come to light, it is reasonable to ask whether the campaign to reshape the party was influenced by billionaire figures such as Epstein, whose interests run counter to those of working people.

“There must be an independent investigation into his role within the party, and his remaining influence cut from the Labour Party like the cancer it is.

“Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage while he awaits his legal fate.”

PM Sir Keir Starmer made Mandelson Britain’s first political appointee as ambassador to the US in 50 years last year, though his continued contact with Epstein after the latter’s guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor had been revealed in 2023.

He then sacked the peer after further details of their relationship came to light, including offers of support from Lord Mandelson to Epstein after the conviction.

Asked about Lord Mandelson’s appointment, Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP Andy McDonald told LBC: “This man was never fit to occupy that position and we know enough about him for it not to be made. 

“Why anybody would touch him with a barge pole is beyond me, the man has been toxic for decades.”

Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson told BBC Radio 5 Live the allegations against Mandelson were “as serious as it gets,” it was “not the conduct befitting a government minister” and “if there is evidence of criminality then of course that should be pursued.”

Sir Keir said that he believes Lord Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords over his links to Epstein.

No 10 added that he has ordered an “urgent” investigation into Lord Mandelson’s contact with the convict while he was a government minister.

The country’s top civil servant has also been tasked with carrying out a review after documents apparently showed Lord Mandelson passing information to Epstein while the peer was a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government.

Downing Street said Sir Keir had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald to conduct “an urgent review.”

Former prime minister Mr Brown also revealed he had asked Sir Chris to investigate the disclosure of “confidential and market-sensitive information” during the global financial crisis.

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “Peter Mandelson has finally resigned from the Labour Party after his association with Epstein. 

“The fact he was appointed by Starmer in the first place shows the moral bankruptcy at the heart of this government.

“He should have been expelled a long time ago.”

Labour MP Emily Thornberry asks whether “police should be involved” following recent revelations in the Epstein files.

She tells MPs that Mandelson “sent on market-sensitive information to Epstein” and told him “about matters of national security.”

Senior Cabinet minister Darren Jones told the Commons: “The government will of course co-operate with any investigations that take place. Any body with any information should make themselves available to investigators whether here or abroad.”

On Sunday night, Lord Mandelson resigned his Labour membership and the party revealed he was facing a disciplinary process.

In his letter, he said: “Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.

“While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party.”

Communist Party general secretary Alex Gordon told the Morning Star: “Peter Mandelson’s resignation from a Labour Party he reformed in his own image is like a man trying to resign from his own shadow. He leaves behind a party apparatus that served as a corporate career ladder dominated by vicious right-wing sectarians. 

“The only resignation that matters now is that of Keir Starmer as the Prime Minister who recommended him as UK ambassador to Washington and publicly joked about his reputation while doing so.”