‘Like fleeing to Southampton’: was Mandelson escape ‘plot’ just a joke?
Is it really plausible that Peter Mandelson could have hatched a daring plot to escape to the British Virgin Islands? In the capital of Road Town for the last week or so, the question has been on many minds.And even if the UK’s Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, came away with that possibility in mind from a recent visit, very few of them are convinced.“It seemed strange to me,” said one bemused local official who had met Hoyle at a function a few days earlier, “that if you were going to flee, it would be to a British territory.From a logical point of view, you’re still more or less in the UK.It’s like fleeing to Southampton.
”Well, the beaches are nicer,The British Virgin Islands have long been a playground for the rich; exclusive private resorts, high-end villas and marinas frequented by celebrities with super-yachts,The Caribbean archipelago is better known for luxury sailing trips and offshore finance than Westminster intrigue,But last week, the tranquil British overseas territory found itself at the centre of an improbable political mystery: was Mandelson, the disgraced former cabinet minister linked to the late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, really planning to flee there? Did the Metropolitan police, based on a tip that Hoyle later said had come from him, thwart a potential escape to paradise? Or did someone, somewhere, get the wrong end of the stick?On Friday, the Met released Mandelson from his bail conditions; his passport was returned after the police concluded he was not a flight risk,That might be interpreted as a tacit admission that detectives, and Hoyle, had got it horribly wrong.
Mandelson’s lawyers issued a statement saying he “did not and does not” pose a flight risk and will continue to cooperate with the police investigation into whether he may have committed misconduct in public office,In a bid to solve the puzzle, the Guardian travelled to the islands – population 35,000 – to ask around,And while few were keen to offer theories on the record, one speculative hypothesis kept coming up: a throwaway remark had taken flight and ended up with a sensational arrest more than 4,000 (6,500km) miles away,Perhaps the islands’ political leadership might help clarify matters? The Guardian visited the office of the premier, Natalio Wheatley, near a marina where cruise ship passengers browsed colourful waterfront shops on a bright Monday morning,A parking space reserved for the premier was occupied, but a receptionist said he was away.
“Today is a very busy day,” Wheatley later said in a WhatsApp message, after rejecting a phone call.“Please send me your questions via this forum.” Could he speak the following day? “Very busy,” he replied.Asked by text if he knew where Hoyle’s tip had come from, and when and where Mandelson might have been heading, Wheatley offered a short answer: “I have no comment on the Mandelson matter.”To recap the Mandelson matter: detectives arrested him on 23 February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, over claims he allegedly leaked sensitive government information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet.
Mandelson has denied any wrongdoing,It later emerged police had received a tip from Hoyle suggesting the former Labour grandee was preparing to move to the British Virgin Islands,The speaker had supposedly gathered this intelligence from someone during a four-day trip to the territory,Mandelson, for his part, dismissed the claim as “fiction”, asking friends in a 4am text message: “The question is, who or what is behind this?”If Mandelson had really intended to seek refuge there, it would have raised obvious questions,The BVI is not a remote jurisdiction beyond the long arm of the British law, but a UK territory with a longstanding extradition agreement.
And yet, on Tortola, the largest of the islands, Wheatley was not the only official to prove unavailable,The British-appointed governor, Daniel Pruce, was “off island for two weeks” and unable to meet or even speak briefly on the phone because of unspecified “diary constraints”, according to his policy and communications officer,The acting police commissioner, Richard Ullger, was also said to be away for two weeks when the Guardian visited his Road Town office, which stands opposite a popular roti restaurant shaded by trees,Ullger later emailed to say he would be available to speak by phone, but failed to respond to further messages,The search for answers continued nearby at the House of Assembly, past the offices of luxury real estate agents and international law firms on narrow streets where chickens roamed freely.
Perhaps the House speaker, Corine George-Massicotte – who, alongside Wheatley, had invited Hoyle to the territory – might shed some light.Instead, the Guardian was informed that George-Massicotte was unavailable to answer questions because she was having lunch.Further attempts at contact proved fruitless.The Guardian contacted more than a dozen other officials who had reportedly met Hoyle during his trip to mark the 75th anniversary of the islands’ assembly.Each in turn professed complete ignorance or declined to discuss the matter.
“I have no knowledge of what you’re talking about.Zero.Like zero knowledge of that,” said Ronald Smith-Berkeley, a permanent secretary who met the speaker in an official capacity.Lorna Smith, a junior minister and former deputy premier, added: “I really have no comment to make on Sir Lindsay’s visit, any aspect of it.”Even away from Tortola, the topic proved delicate.
A ferry ride across glittering waters leads to Virgin Gorda, where yachts cluster in the harbour and visitors gather to watch the sunset.At a food festival where officials and islanders mingled in colourful dress and sipped cocktails, the Mandelson affair remained off the menu.Vincent Wheatley, the minister for health and social development, apologised for being unable to help, before recommending some local attractions.One Foreign Office official appeared visibly alarmed when asked about Mandelson and quickly walked away.Clive McCoy, the director of the BVI Tourist Board, offered a clue on why so many were unwilling to discuss the subject.
The islands relied heavily on tourism and the financial services industry, he said, and “having good PR”,“It’s annoying when things come up about the British Virgin Islands that are sordid or that don’t paint us in a good light,” he added,The BVI, which were devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017, have made headlines in recent years for their links to the Panama Papers and Russian money, and its former premier being convicted of cocaine trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies in the US,It is perhaps understandable that local people would not want the islands to become synonymous with someone tied to Epstein, whose private island Little St James is easily accessible by ferry and water taxi,Martin Kenney, a Canadian lawyer who has lived in the BVI for two decades, said he attended a lunch with the speaker where public policy issues, including regulation of the territory’s financial services sector, were discussed.
At no point, he said, was there any mention that Mandelson might have been planning to head to the Caribbean.“I have no awareness or knowledge of who the source [of this rumour] would be, or why on earth they would suggest that Mr Mandelson would want to come to the BVI to avoid interviewing by the police,” Kenney said from his Road Town office.“The British Virgin Islands is a territory of the United Kingdom.Why would you flee to another part of the United Kingdom if you’re going to flee? You might want to go to a country with no extradition treaty with Britain, but why would you go to a part of Britain? So, self-evidently, I think the story lacks some credibility.”He also rejected speculation that Mandelson could have been offered refuge by a wealthy supporter.
“It doesn’t make sense because the British Virgin Islands follows the English common law,” he said.“This is a rule of law-based jurisdiction, not a haven for people to flee to from justice.”Among local journalists, another theory has quietly circulated: that the whole episode might have stemmed from a misunderstanding.Freeman Rogers, the editor of the BVI Beacon, said it had been suggested that Hoyle might simply have misinterpreted a joke during his visit.“That did cross our mind,” Rogers said.
“It seemed very strange to us … This idea of him [Mandelson] just up and deciding to move here and disappear or something,”Nor, Rogers added, did the notion that the islands could serve as a staging post for a further escape seem plausible,“I don’t think this is the kind of place, in this day and age, where he could come and then get smuggled away in somebody’s private jet,I don’t think that anybody here with a private jet would think it was a good idea to do that,So no, I don’t think that makes sense at all.
”In a brief statement to the Commons last Wednesday, Hoyle went public with the fact that he was the source of the tipoff, saying: “To prevent any inaccurate speculation, I’d like to confirm that, upon receipt of information, I felt it was relevant I pass this on to the Metropolitan police in good faith, as is my duty and responsibility,”And on Friday, while defending his tipoff to the police, a spokesperson for the speaker’s office did not offer a view on the underlying truth of the claim: “As Mr Speaker told MPs, he was given a relevant piece of information regarding Lord Mandelson during an official visit to the British Virgin Islands,” she said,“He passed this information to the Metropolitan police in good faith and in confidence,It was for the police to decide how to respond to that information,”For now, the source of Hoyle’s tip remains a mystery.
But the sun is shining, the cruise ships, yachts and private jets keep turning up, and the marinas are bustling.And the Mandelson affair seems very far from people’s thoughts.
A lovely name for watching night fall | Letters
Rachel Dixon’s piece about “dusking” (‘All you need is a chair and a view’: could daily ‘dusking’ make us healthier and happier?, 1 March) gave a lovely name to something I having been doing all my life, beginning as a child in the company of my Nanna, in a gas-lit kitchen in Wembley in the 1940s, with no view to speak of – just a back yard. I can see Nanna clearly, sitting on a chair wedged between the dresser and a table, the gas mantle yet to be lit by a taper that stood in a clay pot on top of the range. “Let the night take you and you will sleep all the better for it,” she used to say.And I was always a night-long sleeper – still am as I approach my 82nd birthday. Now the view is a back garden in Beeston; I sit and watch, as the night draws in, in an Ikea chair bought for £9 in 1996, and warm thanks to central heating
Betting on nuclear war: what are prediction markets and could they come to the UK?
As ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones rained down on the Middle East, one of the world’s most talked-about businesses was inviting wagers on whether nuclear Armageddon might be imminent.Polymarket is a prediction market, a relatively new breed of betting company that has burst on to the scene, particularly in the US, often seducing customers with little previous interest in gambling.Alongside its larger rival Kalshi, Polymarket offers the chance to stake money on everything from the result of last week’s Gorton and Denton byelection to whether the US will confirm the existence of aliens before 2027.Its market on nuclear Armageddon now appears to have been taken down, after widespread distaste circulating online for the prospect of wagering on the deaths of millions of humans. Polymarket did not return a request for comment
UK’s private dentistry market faces review after price jumps of more than 23%
The UK’s competition watchdog has launched a review into the £8bn private dentistry market after the price of a consultation increased by nearly 25% over a two-year period.One in five people in Great Britain sought private dental care in 2024 in part because they could not access NHS treatment. Announcing its investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it wanted to make sure the market was “working well for UK consumers”.The CMA said dentistry played “a critical role in people’s health and wellbeing” and that demand for private services had risen sharply in recent years. Against this backdrop the regulator pointed to independent price data that showed average prices had “increased significantly”
‘A space of their own’: how cancer centres designed by top architects can offer hope
Maggie Keswick Jencks received her weekly breast cancer treatment in a windowless neon-lit room in Edinburgh’s Western general hospital. Her husband, the renowned landscape designer Charles, later described it as a kind of “architectural aversion therapy”.It was then, in the early 1990s, that the Scottish artist and garden designer imagined her own blueprint that would allow cancer patients “a space of their own” within the alienating, clinical confines of the hospital estate, one where they might “not lose the joy of living in the fear of dying”.The first Maggie’s Centre opened in Edinburgh in 1996, a year after her death, designed by Richard Murphy and housed in a converted stable block in the Western general grounds.Three decades on, there are more than 30 of these hospital-adjacent cancer support centres across the UK and overseas, and this legacy of conscious design is celebrated in a free exhibition at the V&A Dundee from Friday
UK government ‘effectively allowed’ child sexual abuse, campaigners say
Campaigners have accused the UK government of in effect allowing child abuse to continue by having an “inconsistent and arbitrary” approach to implementing recommendations from a seven-year statutory inquiry.The claim was made at the high court in London, where a judge said a legal action against the Home Office could continue.The Maggie Oliver Foundation is taking action over the government’s alleged failure to adopt all the changes recommended by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), which conducted investigations between 2015 and 2022.At a hearing on Thursday, Mr Justice Kimblin allowed the legal action to continue, saying it was arguable that the foundation had a “legitimate expectation” that the government would implement the recommendations. The Home Office is defending the claim
Circumcision classed as potentially harmful practice in new CPS guidance
Circumcision has been classed as a potentially harmful practice in new official guidance for criminal prosecutors in England and Wales, but controversial plans to class it as possible child abuse have been dropped.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided against including circumcision alongside dowry abuse, witchcraft and female genital mutilation in its new guidance on honour-based abuse, after objections from Jewish and Muslim groups when the plans were revealed by the Guardian.Instead it has included a similar section on circumcision in updated guidance on offences against the person. It says: “In certain circumstances, such as the procedure being carried out by those falsely claiming to be suitably qualified practitioners or carried out in non-sterile conditions, it can cross the line into a harmful practice.”Prosecutors are advised to consider child cruelty offences under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 or assault offences under the Offences against the Person Act 1861
Investors are expecting Donald Trump to back down in the war with Iran – but what if he doesn’t?
Ian Arnot obituary
UK arts must not be sacrificed for speculative AI gains, peers say
Mark Zuckerberg says criminal behavior on Facebook inevitable
Rory McIlroy to defend Players title despite withdrawal from Invitational
Italy v England: Six Nations 2026 – as it happened