Mandelson trade deals must be examined, says campaigner

Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden has called for the annulment of any trade deals arranged by disgraced Starmer adviser Peter Mandelson. The call comes after Mandelson’s arrest on suspicion of leaking UK secrets to serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson’s known closeness to Epstein did not prevent Starmer appointing him as a top Downing Street adviser, and as UK ambassador to the US. That closeness – ardour is more accurate – saw Mandelson sending Epstein hugely lucrative ‘insider trading’ information in emails exposed by the latest Epstein files release.

In an ‘X’ post linking to coverage of Mandelson’s arrest yesterday, Dearden wrote:

Mandelson had a wide reach

Dearden did not elaborate on what mechanisms could be used to rescind the deals, but he has advocated for US companies to be barred completely from European and UK contracts to rein in Trump’s global trade war. In the same article, he also correctly points out that trade has always been a weapon for the rich to use against poor people:

Trade has always been a weapon used by the rich to disadvantage the poor, and free market rules are always waived when the interests of the rich are at stake. There has never really been a distinction between geopolitics and the international economy.

But the rescinding should not just be of trade deals between states. Mandelson’s client Palantir, the US spy-software company, was awarded a massive contract to handle NHS data. The Green party has demanded an investigation into that same contract. Palantir was also awarded a £240m Ministry of Defence contract – without any competitive process. In fact, Epstein had invested in the company.

But this should not just apply to deals brokered by Mandelson. The former prince Andrew, whose appointment as trade envoy Mandelson pushed has also been arrested for leaking similar information to Epstein. Anything touched by either man is irrevocably tainted and must be undone.

Featured image via the Canary