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Trade Minister Chris Bryant launched a blistering critique of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who no longer enjoys protection from tradition after losing his titles.
“I believe everyone here is deeply disturbed and outraged by the recent accusations,” Bryant declared during the debate.
“Numerous colleagues and civil servants have shared their personal experiences with Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, all revealing a consistent pattern,” he added.
“He is a man constantly seeking self-promotion and personal gain, exhibiting rudeness, arrogance, and a sense of entitlement, unable to differentiate between the public interest he claimed to serve and his own personal agenda.”
Mountbatten-Windsor faces allegations of inappropriately sharing government information with convicted sex offender Epstein during his decade-long tenure as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment.
The house voted unanimously to approve the release of documents related to his appointment after the Liberal Democrats used an arcane parliamentary procedure known as a humble address to pressure the Labour government on the matter.
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey argued it was time for transparency.
“In many ways, this is the first truly global scandal from the White House and Silicon Valley to Oslo and Paris, but it’s also a deeply British scandal reaching right to the top of the British establishment,” Davey said in opening the debate.
Politicians lined up to criticise Andrew and at least four of them said convention shielding the royal family in parliament should end.
“These arcane rules make a mockery of our democracy,” Scottish National Party MP Brendan O’Hara said.
“Nobody, regardless of rank or privilege, should or must be above the law.”
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had given lawmakers approval to discuss the former prince on the basis that he is no longer a member of the royal family, having been stripped of his titles.
Bryant said he would try to get the documents released as soon as possible, but officials would need to check it would not interfere with the police investigation.
The police began investigating Mountbatten-Windsor after the US government last month released emails appearing to show he had passed documents to Epstein while he worked as a trade envoy. Trade envoys are usually barred from sharing such material under confidentiality rules.
He was the first member of the British royal family to be arrested in more than three centuries when he was questioned by officers on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
He has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and said he regrets their friendship.
He has not spoken publicly since the release of more than 3 million pages of documents by the US government relating to Epstein, who was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
The debate in Britain’s parliament came as the US Justice Department’s release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein exposes how the wealthy financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women.
Nowhere has the fallout been felt more than in the UK, where the scandal has raised questions about the way power is wielded by the aristocracy, senior politicians and influential businessmen, known collectively as “the establishment”.
– Reported with Associated Press and Reuters
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