Apparent leak by Peter Mandelson gave advance notice of Gordon Brown’s resignation and €500bn eurozone deal
On a brisk Monday evening in May 2010, Gordon Brown stood on the steps of Downing Street and delivered one of the most dramatic announcements of the New Labour era: his resignation as UK prime minister.
The decision came days after a nail-biting general election that left no single party with a clear run at No 10. Brown kept his decision, which followed days of political wrangling, to a tight inner circle. Nick Clegg, who would go on to serve as deputy prime minister of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, was formally told of Brown’s resignation only 10 minutes before the announcement.
But across the pond, a man named Jeffrey Epstein, a well-connected financier and convicted child sex offender, had been briefed hours before. “Finally got him to go today …” an email believed to be sent by Peter Mandelson informed Epstein on Monday morning.
The apparent tip-off, revealed in the latest tranche of the Epstein files, not only gave Epstein an inside track on the UK’s political future, but also on large moves that were to ripple through global markets.
