Mandelson to give up membership of House of Lords – but his peerage not affected
Peter Mandelson is to step down from the House of Lords.
The move was announced in the Lords by the Lord Speaker, Michael Forsyth.
This means he will no longer be a member, and entitled to take part in its proceedings.
But he will keep his title, and he will still be entitled to call himself Lord Mandelson.
Key events
This is the statement that Michael Forsyth, the lord speaker, read out announcing that Peter Mandelson has quit the Lords.
My lords, given the public interest, and for the convenience of the house, I have decided to inform the house that the clerk of the parliaments has today received notification from Lord Mandelson of his intention to retire from the house efffective from 4 February. I will formally notify this to the house tomorrow in the usual way.
Mandelson to give up membership of House of Lords – but his peerage not affected
Peter Mandelson is to step down from the House of Lords.
The move was announced in the Lords by the Lord Speaker, Michael Forsyth.
This means he will no longer be a member, and entitled to take part in its proceedings.
But he will keep his title, and he will still be entitled to call himself Lord Mandelson.
Q: Did you know Nick Candy, your treasurer, had a friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell?
Yes, says Farage. He says Candy had been friendly with her for years.
Nick knows everybody. Nick is another great networker and he’s very, very good at it.
Farage says he was surprised the government did not invite him in to pick his brains about Donald Trump. That would have been in the national interest, and he would have been happy to help. But Labour would not do that because their “contempt” for him was so strong, he claims.
Farage declines debate challenge from Green party leader Zack Polanski
Q: Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, is challenging you to a debate. Will you accept?
No, says Farage. He says if you pick a fight with a chimney sweep, you get covered in soot.
At his press conference Nigel Farage acknowledges that he is mentioned 37 times in the Epstein files. But he says he never met Jeffrey Epstein. He say Nick Candy, the party’s treasurer, exchanged emails with Epstein, over a potential property sale. But Farage says he is not aware of anyone else in his party having dealings with Epstein.
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At his press conference Nigel Farage says tightening the drink driving laws is “not even in the top 50” of issues facing the country. The government should drop the plans for this, he says. He claims it will harm pubs without delivering any benefits.
Peter Mandelson used a private BT email address to correspond with government colleagues, Steven Swinford from the Times reports. He says:
We initially thought he forwarded government emails to his BT internet account then passed them on to Epstein
In fact two senior government sources say he was corresponding with ministers and officials using his BT internet account. The messages went directly to his Blackberry, and he sent them straight on to Epstein
That email address is now defunct and the Cabinet Office has no was of retrieving the messages on it
It sounds like a pretty extraordinary security breach, with fundamental implications for government record-keeping
When it is put to him that Kent county council has not save much money throught its Reform-led Doge unit, Farage claims that is “cobblers”. He says Kent has saved over £100m already, and will save several hundred million more.
Farage says, as a trade commissioner in Brussels, Peter Mandelson was very impressive. He was “incrediby well briefed”. In all his time there, he never saw anyone as good, he says.
Asked if Reform UK would back a Tory bid to force the government to publish information relating to Mandelson’s vetting process (see 11.32am), he says they probably would.
Q: Do you think the police should investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over sex trafficking?
Farage says, if there is evidence to justify an investigation, it should take place.
