STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
British police have made another arrest in their investigation into the Epstein files - Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States. He is suspected of passing confidential government information to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That's the same allegation that former Prince Andrew faces. Neither has commented or been charged. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Until Jeffrey Epstein, this line in a speech 25 years ago was what Mandelson was most famous for.
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PETER MANDELSON: I am a fighter and not a quitter.
FRAYER: He was known for defiance, political comebacks as a lawmaker, adviser to several prime ministers. After being fired as ambassador last year, Mandelson told the BBC he regrets his long friendship with Epstein.
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MANDELSON: It was a most terrible mistake.
FRAYER: And he moved on, seemed to be trying to rehabilitate his image, giving interviews on Iran, writing op-eds on Venezuela, until late January and the latest batch of Epstein files released by the U.S. Justice Department.
PAUL SINCLAIR: The revelations of what Mandelson was doing while he was a cabinet minister is shocking. I've never seen anything like this.
FRAYER: Paul Sinclair is a former adviser to Mandelson's now ruling Labour Party. They worked together after the 2008 banking crisis. And he says what police are investigating, misconduct in public office, sounds conservative. Sinclair calls it espionage. And here's why. There are email chains where Mandelson appears to forward Epstein government information within four seconds of receiving it himself, where he gives Epstein market-sensitive data to pass to his banker friends and where he apparently tells Epstein to tell JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to, quote, "mildly threaten" the U.K. chancellor or finance minister.
SINCLAIR: The reason I would say espionage is he was passing in-real-time information. And the idea that he would go to Epstein to tell him to go to a bank at JPMorgan to put pressure on the chancellor, that's obscene.
FRAYER: Mandelson has not answered NPR's calls for comment on these latest allegations. Around 2 a.m. last night...
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FRAYER: ...A black cab pulled up outside Mandelson's London house, and camera flashes lit up the night as the man known in British politics as the Prince of Darkness got out of the car and went home. Police say he was released on bail pending further investigation. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.
(SOUNDBITE OF GARY BURTON'S "LAS VEGAS TANGO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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