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The Speaker of the House of Commons passed on a tip to the Metropolitan Police that Lord Peter Mandelson was poised to flee to the British Virgin Islands, leading to the arrest of the former US ambassador.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle confirmed in the Commons chamber on Wednesday morning that he was the person who told the Met that his former Labour colleague was a possible flight risk.
Mandelson’s lawyers issued a statement on Tuesday evening saying any suggestion he planned to leave the country was “baseless”, and accused the Met Police of breaching an agreement for the former cabinet minister to talk to officers voluntarily in March.
People close to the police investigation insisted the Met did not rely solely on the tip from Hoyle but had carried out a “professional piece of work” and made other checks to assess whether Mandelson was a flight risk.
They added that although the BVI had an extradition treaty with Britain, it was easy to fly from the tax haven to other destinations “such as South America”. Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, is Brazilian.
Mishcon de Reya, the law firm representing the former ambassador, said on Tuesday evening: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis.
“The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad,” it added. “There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion.”
On Wednesday, Hoyle said that he was the source of the information that led the Met to arrest Mandelson and release him on bail after nine hours of questioning.
“Members will be aware of comments in the media regarding the arrest of Lord Mandelson,” Hoyle told MPs. “To prevent any inaccurate speculation, I’d like to confirm that on receipt of information that I felt was relevant, I passed this on to the Metropolitan Police in good faith as is my duty and responsibility.”
Allies of Mandelson initially claimed that the Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, had given the police the tip, which he subsequently said was completely untrue.
Police insiders have not denied that Met officers told Mandelson they had received a tip from the Speaker, but confusion appears to have arisen about whether this was the Speaker of the Commons or the Lords, the two chambers in parliament.
Hoyle, who was elected a Labour MP but now presides over the Commons as a nonaligned Speaker, had made a visit to the BVI last week.
He was told by someone in the tax haven and British overseas territory that Mandelson had plans to travel there, according to one colleague.
Mandelson has since told friends this was a “complete fiction”.
Hoyle approached Scotland Yard with the information at a meeting on Monday morning, just hours before plain-clothes Met officers arrested Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The Met have not apologised to Mandelson, and those close to the investigation insist they still believe he is a flight risk. Bail conditions can require the surrender of a passport to prevent international travel.
Mandelson’s arrest followed claims he leaked UK government memos to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was a cabinet minister.
The Met launched the criminal investigation into Mandelson, who was business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister in 2009 and 2010, after it said it had received a number of complaints including a referral from the UK government.