the Met has apologised to Sir Lindsay Hoyle for inadvertently revealing him as the informant in the Lord Mandelson inquiry; meanwhile a man has been charged with murder in Newham
The Metropolitan Police have apologised to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle after custody paperwork mistakenly suggested he was the source of information that preceded the arrest of Lord Peter Mandelson. Senior Scotland Yard officers met Sir Lindsay in person to explain the error, describing it as a serious breach of internal procedure and launching an internal review to find out how the misidentification happened.
A document supplied to Lord Mandelson’s legal team included a reference to “the Lord Speaker” as the origin of certain information — a phrase that appears to have been taken to mean Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Police chiefs say this was a procedural failure.
They have offered a face-to-face meeting to set the record straight and apologised for inadvertently revealing information connected to an investigation into alleged misconduct in public office.
Senior officers arranged meetings with Sir Lindsay at locations organised by the Met; the force has not disclosed precise dates.
Sir Lindsay told the Commons he had passed material to police while abroad and stressed he acted in good faith, asking colleagues and the media to avoid speculation while inquiries continue.
The custody entry is part of the defence disclosure in Lord Mandelson’s case and has become a focus of scrutiny. Some of the material referenced in the wider inquiry stems from what has been called the “Epstein files” — a trove of emails dating back to around 2009. Those messages include policy discussions and references to financial matters such as an asset sales plan, a possible bankers’ bonus tax and notes about a euro bailout package that predated public announcements in 2010. Several messages were sent after Jeffrey Epstein’s conviction.
Complicating the Met’s public posture is an unrelated criminal matter. In Newham, Richard Clayton, 44, has been charged with murder following the death of a 74-year-old woman; that case will continue through the criminal courts. Separately, a senior figure was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released on bail; his legal team denies any suggestion he tried to leave the country and has formally sought the evidence the force used to justify the arrest.
Errors like the one that named the “Lord Speaker” carry reputational costs beyond the immediate mistake. Slips in record‑keeping can erode public confidence, muddy politically sensitive investigations and make parliamentary oversight more fraught. The Met now faces two pressing tasks: correct the public record with Sir Lindsay and carry out any necessary internal discipline, while also maintaining clear communications as the separate criminal processes proceed.
Government ministers say they will cooperate with investigators but cannot release material the police need while active inquiries are under way. The case has reopened the debate about where routine policy correspondence ends and material of investigatory significance begins — a key legal and political fault line in this story.
Recent related developments include the short detention last week of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office; he has denied wrongdoing and the force has provided no further comment. How Scotland Yard handles its internal review and the fallout from these disclosures will be watched closely as a test of its ability to protect sensitive information in future probes.
