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When Lord Peter Mandelson was Business Secretary, he leaked a sensitive UK government document to Jeffrey Epstein, proposing a £20 billion asset sale and revealing Labour’s tax policy plans.
The memorandum, dubbed “business issues“, was written on 13 June 2009 by Nick Butler, who was then a special adviser to the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The confidential document, which was released by the US Justice Department as part of a tranche of millions of files relating to Epstein, was sent to British government officials including Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Haywood.
The memorandum called for promoting private sector investment in the wake of the financial recession through tax incentives.
Butler argued, “The only major tool available to the government is a further expansion of the capital allowances announced in the Budget.” “We should consider increasing the capital allowance on new investment to 75 per cent (or even higher) for the remainder of this tax year.”
He also said Brown should authorize the sale of “as much as £20 billion” of assets to reduce the debt burden, reduce borrowing costs and provide funds for new investment.
“This will enable us to go to the election in the next Parliament with a pledge to make no further increases to corporate or top rate income taxes,” Butler wrote.
The highly sensitive document was sent by Mandelson to Epstein the same day with the comment: “Interesting note sent to the Prime Minister.”
Epstein replied: “What marketable asset?”
Mandelson responded, “I think land, property.”
Labor government announced asset sale plan Four months later, it was suggested that £16 billion could be raised through a settlement.
Mandelson was contacted for comment on Monday.
The revelations will increase pressure on Mandelson, who resigned from the Labor Party on Sunday. Documents released over the weekend revealed he received three payments of $25,000 from Epstein when he was a backbench MP in 2003 and 2004.
The files reveal that his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva also received thousands of pounds from Epstein in 2009 and 2010, when Mandelson was business secretary.
On Monday morning, opposition parties called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to authorize an investigation into the former Labor cabinet minister, whom he appointed as ambassador to Washington last year.
Starmer fired Mandelson from that post in September because of her ties to Epstein.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said, “Keir Starmer and his chief of staff (Morgan McSweeney) appointed Mandelson as ambassador despite his relationship with Epstein and then refused to take action even as the mountain of evidence against him mounted.”
He said, “Given the Prime Minister’s appalling lack of judgment and his involvement in the Downing Street operation, there must now be a full and thorough independent investigation.”
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, also wrote to the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus demanding an investigation.
Nick McPherson, who was Permanent Secretary to the Treasury in 2009, said: “(Then Chancellor) Alistair Darling and the official Treasury always knew that the investment banks had an inside track to Number 10. But the brazen nature of that inside track is rather breathtaking.”
