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MPs on Tuesday paved the way for publication of files about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as a UK trade representative by unanimously approving a parliamentary motion calling for their release.
The House of Commons backed the motion, brought by the opposition Liberal Democrats, after trade minister Sir Chris Bryant said the government supported the release of the documents.
However, Bryant said the publication of some documents would be delayed to avoid prejudicing an investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor for alleged misconduct in public office.
The Lib Dems were demanding publication of documents relating to the appointment of Mountbatten-Windsor, including those covering vetting, to the trade representative role in 2001.
Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, last week became the first member of the royal family to be arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence for more than 300 years.
Thames Valley Police arrested him on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Downing Street has meanwhile said it is considering legislation to remove him from his place in the royal line of succession.
Mountbatten-Windsor was made a trade envoy by Sir Tony Blair’s New Labour government. His role as “special representative for international trade and investment” allowed the then-prince to travel the world meeting senior business and government figures in the unpaid role.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Bryant said the government would “of course” comply with the terms of the Liberal Democrats’ motion “in full”. But he added that there was a live police investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor and it was “absolutely crucial” the integrity of the investigation was protected.
He said: “It would be wrong of me to say anything that might prejudice them, nor will the government be able to put into the public domain anything that is required by the police for them to conduct their inquiries unless and until the police are satisfied.”
Bryant said colleagues and many civil servants had told him stories of their interactions with Mountbatten-Windsor.
He added: “They all betray the same pattern: a man on a constant self-aggrandising and self-enriching hustle, a rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest which he said he served, and his own private interest.”
Sir Ed Davey, Lib Dem leader, said the public deserved to know the processes behind the original appointment.
“We need to see the vetting files, the due diligence reports and the correspondence to understand how this appointment came to be, and whether glaring warning signs were missed,” he said.
“There’s also a much broader principle at stake here. No one, regardless of their title or their friends, should be beyond the scrutiny of parliament.”
Davey told the Commons that the conduct of Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to Washington, was a “stain” on the UK’s reputation.
Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on Monday and released on bail early on Tuesday.
Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for leaving it to the Liberal Democrats to push for the release of the files, arguing the government could have been “much more proactive”.
At the start of the debate, Davey apologised for previous comments he made defending Mountbatten-Windsor in a May 2011 Commons debate.
Davey, then a government minister in the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition administration, had said that Mountbatten-Windsor was doing an “excellent job” as trade envoy.
On Tuesday, he told the Commons: “I cannot imagine what it must have been like for survivors and their families to hear him praised like that. I’m determined to change things.”
Emails released in the Epstein files last month suggest that Mountbatten-Windsor, while serving as envoy, forwarded government reports to Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sec offender, including documents about his visits to Singapore, China and Vietnam, as well as details about investment opportunities in gold and uranium in Afghanistan.
They have also shown that he lobbied on Epstein’s behalf to the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister during a state visit with the late Queen Elizabeth. Other emails have shown he sought to use private days during an official visit to China to broker an $8bn loan from China’s sovereign wealth fund to the UAE.
The Conservative Party earlier this month used a so-called humble address to force the government into releasing messages relating to Mandelson’s appointment as Washington ambassador in 2024, which will see a deluge of data released in the coming weeks.
The first Mandelson-related documents will be published in early March, the government said on Monday.
Both Mandelson and Mountbatten-Windsor have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Additional reporting by Maxine Kelly