Gordon Brown has viciously hit back at Peter Mandelson over the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying he now “greatly regrets” appointing the peer to the cabinet. The former prime minister brought the Prince of Darkness back from the political wilderness to make him business secretary in 2008, despite the pair having spectacularly fallen out previously.

The move was seen as a political masterstroke at the time, with Mr Brown citing Lord Mandelson’s huge experience in economic affairs and later making him effectively deputy prime minister. But writing for The Guardian, Mr Brown said he now hugely regretted his decision following bombshell revelations in the Epstein files. Lord Mandelson is alleged to have leaked market-sensitive information at the height of the financial crisis and advised a banker to “mildly threaten” the then-chancellor, Alistair Darling.

“That the leaks of sensitive information were going to someone we now know was the ringmaster of a cabal of abusers and enablers sickens me,” said Mr Brown, prime minister between 2007-10.

“I have to take personal responsibility for appointing Mandelson to his ministerial role in 2008. I greatly regret this appointment.

“I was informed that his record in the role was unblemished and there were no reports of a relationship with anyone named Epstein. No one could say I promoted him out of favouritism.

“I did so in spite of him being anything but a friend to me, because I thought that his unquestioned knowledge of Europe and beyond could help us as we dealt with the global financial crisis. I now know that I was wrong.

“His activities, which his own emails have brought into the public arena, do not only show his duplicity.

“They force us to examine how easy it is in our country to trade secrets – for wealth to gain access to power, how backdoor routes to decision-makers can be covered up, how lobbying for financial gain can circumvent well-meaning but insipid rules and how our laws seem to have failed to catch up with corruption.”

Mr Brown is now calling for an independent anti-corruption commission to be appointed by Parliament “to root out any criminality in UK political life”.
On Friday, police raided Lord Mandelson’s homes as part of a criminal probe into the disgraced Labour grandee.

Officers are also expected to grill the former ambassador to the US within days as part of their investigation.

The criminal probe into the ex-minister has so far stopped documents surrounding Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, which Sir Keir Starmer believes will exonerate him, from being released.

The Prime Minister sparked intense fury on Wednesday when he confirmed to the Commons that he appointed Lord Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to Washington despite knowing that the Labour peer’s relationship with Epstein continued after his conviction for child sex offences.