Mandelson referred to EU’s anti-fraud agency after release of Epstein files

The European Commission has asked the EU’s anti-fraud agency to open an inquiry into Lord Peter Mandelson’s time as trade commissioner in Brussels, in the wake of the release of the Epstein files.

It comes just days after the former Labour peer was arrested in London on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following claims he had leaked sensitive government information to the paedophile financier.

That prompted an extraordinary row when his lawyers claimed that the ex-cabinet minister’s arrest followed a “baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country”.

Police in the UK are investigating Mandelson’s contact with Jeffrey Epstein during his time as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government. Before that, he served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2004 and 2008.

In the recently released batch of Epstein files, Lord Mandelson appeared to confirm a yet-to-be-announced €500bn bailout of the Euro. The documents show Epstein emailed Lord Mandleson “sources tell me 500 b euro bailout , almost complete”.

Lord Mandelson appeared to respond: “Sd be announced tonight.”

A spokesperson for the commission confirmed that it had referred Lord Mandelson to the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf).

They said: “Whenever there is any indication of a possible breach of the obligations under the (code of conduct), the commission assesses these possible breaches and takes action on that basis, if necessary.

“On this basis, and as new documents were published recently, we are looking into these and assessing whether there is any breach of the respective obligations.

“Given the circumstances, and the significant amount of documents made available publicly, the European Commission also asked Olaf on February 18 to look into the matter. Pending the ongoing assessment, we are not in a position to comment further.”

A spokesperson for Olaf confirmed that it had been asked to look into Lord Mandelson’s actions, but could not say whether an investigation would take place.

Meanwhile, the government has confirmed the PM cannot overrule parliament’s security watchdog if it wants to publish documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said officials had confirmed “in writing” that it would have the final say on which papers are released following a meeting on Thursday.

Some of the thousands of documents are expected to be withheld for national security reasons, but that will be up to the ISC, rather than ministers, to determine.

Lord Mandelson, who has denied any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.

Esther Rantzen accuses peers of ‘sabotage’ as assisted dying bill looks set to fail

Dame Esther Rantzen has accused peers of “blatant sabotage” after it emerged the assisted dying bill will probably fail to become law.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will fail in May if it does not complete all its parliamentary stages before the end of the current session.

Opponents of the proposals have been accused of trying to “talk out” the legislation as it makes its way through the Lords, but they insist they are scrutinising a dangerous proposition amid concerns about coercion, disability rights and other issues.

The bill has been opposed by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, but it has the backing of the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer.

Dame Esther Rantzen, one of its most high-profile supporters, accused some peers of “blatant sabotage” in an appearance on Sky News.

She accused “a handful of peers” of laying 1,200 amendments, “not to scrutinise the bill, which is their job, but to block it. That’s what they wanted. A few peers, for their own reasons, have decided that they’re going to stop this going through parliament.”

She said she felt “very sad, because so many other countries around the world… have come to the same sensible, proper conclusion, which is, if you are terminally ill and an adult, and fully competent to make your own decisions, you should have the right to die painlessly and in dignity if life becomes unbearable.

“So I’m saying to the House of Lords, how can you be so cruel, so inhumane and so undemocratic?”

She has previously written to members of the Lords urging them to “stop inventing fictitious excuses” to block the legislation.

No 10 would not be drawn on whether or not the government would support giving the bill extra time for scrutiny in the Lords.

Lord Falconer, another prominent supporter, described the current situation as a “tragedy”. But he claimed it was not the end of the road for the bill, saying it could be brought back by using a rare parliamentary procedure.

The Parliament Act allows bills backed by MPs in two successive sessions, but rejected by peers, to pass into law without the approval of the House of Lords.

Only seven bills have ever overridden the Lords in this way, including the ban on hunting in 2004.

If passed, the bill would allow adults with terminal illnesses in England and Wales who have less than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.

MPs passed it in the Commons last June, but by a narrow majority of just 24.

Lord Falconer said: “The Lords prides itself on focusing on the things that matter, and that most certainly is not what’s been going on here. The tragedy is that a small number of people in the Lords are blocking a bill that has passed in the Commons.”

He went on to say: “It’s not the end of the road, because the Parliament Act allows it to go through to the next session, and I’m sure that is what will happen.”

Meanwhile, Jersey’s States Assembly voted through legislation to legalise assisted dying.

The legislation will now go for royal assent so it can formally become law on the island.

To be eligible, someone would have to have been resident in Jersey for at least 12 months, have a voluntary, settled and informed wish to end their own life, and to be terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months, or 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative disease.

In contrast to the bill being considered at Westminster, which states the terminally ill adult must take an approved substance themselves, the Jersey legislation would allow a doctor or registered nurse to administer the lethal drugs.

Campaigners in favour of legalising assisted dying hope a service can be in place in Jersey by the end of next summer.

Trump advisers ‘would prefer Israel to bomb Iran first’

Senior advisers to Donald Trump would privately prefer Israel to strike Iran first as a sharp response from Tehran would make it easier to justify US intervention, according to a report.

Two people familiar with talks on the matter told Politico that there is an assessment at the highest levels that Americans would be more likely to support the US supporting an ally than picking a fight with Iran without clear provocation.

Recent polling showed 56 per cent of the American public has little or no trust in Mr Trump’s judgment regarding the use of force overseas, reflected in a disapproval rating that has risen four points in the last month alone.

“There’s thinking in and around the administration that the politics are a lot better if the Israelis go first and alone and the Iranians retaliate against us, and give us more reason to take action,” one of the sources told Politico under the condition of anonymity.

Both sources told the outlet that if Mr Trump does opt for a military campaign, the most likely scenario would involve bilateral US-Israeli action, similar to the strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure last summer.

A US official told Reuters that the US has already sent a dozen F-22 fighter jets to Israel, the first time Washington has deployed combat aircraft to the country for potential wartime operations. The Trump administration has not formally announced the deployment.

Mr Trump has said that he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the crisis, but has kept the option of force on the table, moving two aircraft carriers and accompanying destroyers to the region in a show of force.

The USS Gerald R Ford, the largest US aircraft carrier, left port near Crete on Thursday bound for shores near Haifa in northern Israel, where it is expected to arrive on Friday.

The large US deployment has raised fears of a wider regional conflict. In June last year, the US joined Israel in hitting Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has threatened to retaliate fiercely if attacked again.

Washington is pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear programme, which it claims is aimed at building a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the allegations, but said it would approach ongoing talks in Geneva with “seriousness and flexibility”.

Mr Trump raised tensions last Thursday when he said that Iran would have to make a deal within 10 to 15 days or “really bad things” would happen.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that Iran aimed to achieve a fair, swift deal, but reiterated that it would not forgo its right to peaceful nuclear technology.

Washington views nuclear enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons.

Soham killer Ian Huntley seriously injured in prison attack

Soham killer Ian Huntley has suffered serious injuries after being attacked in high-security Frankland prison.

Durham Constabulary said a prisoner, understood to be Huntley, was assaulted on Thursday morning at HMP Frankland, in County Durham, before being taken to hospital.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “A prisoner is receiving treatment after an incident at HMP Frankland on Thursday morning.”

The Durham police force said that a male prisoner in his mid-40s suspected of carrying out the attack was being held in detention while the incident was investigated.

Huntley killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002. He then dumped their bodies in a ditch.

He is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for their murders.

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “Police were alerted to an assault which had taken place within HMP Frankland in Durham this morning.

“A male prisoner suffered serious injuries during the incident and was transported to hospital.

“A police investigation is now under way into the circumstances of the incident and detectives are liaising with staff at the prison.”

A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 9.23am on Thursday 26 February 2026 to reports of an incident at HM Prison Frankland in County Durham.

“We dispatched two ambulance crews to the scene and requested support from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

“One patient was transported to hospital by road.”

It is not the first time Huntley, 52, has been attacked at Frankland prison.

Using a home-made weapon, robber Damien Fowkes slashed him in 2010, causing a “severe gaping cut to the left side of his neck”. That wound was 7in (18cm) long and required 21 stitches.

Danish PM calls early election after Greenland spat with Trump

Denmark is set to hold an early general election on 24 March, prime minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Thursday.

Her decision comes as the nation continues to navigate the aftermath of US president Donald Trump’s controversial interest in Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Citizens across the Scandinavian country, a key member of both Nato and the European Union, will cast their votes for the Folketing, Denmark’s parliament.

The legislative body comprises 179 seats, with 175 allocated to representatives from Denmark itself, and two seats each for lawmakers from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the kingdom’s other semi-autonomous region.

“It is now up to you, the voters, to decide what direction Denmark will take over the next four years. And I am looking forward to it,” Ms Frederiksen, 48, said during her parliamentary announcement.

The past year presented a significant challenge for the Danish government, largely due to Mr Trump’s pursuit of US control over Greenland. This culminated in his brief threat in January to impose new tariffs on Denmark and several other European nations if they failed to discuss the future of the island.

Ms Frederiksen hopes her firm and direct handling of the Greenland crisis will resonate positively with Danish voters. She recently issued a stark warning, suggesting that an American takeover of Greenland could ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Nato military alliance.

Polls also show a bump in the popularity of the prime minister’s Social Democrats during recent weeks, which were dominated by the looming Greenland crisis.

Some Danish citizens have been so upset with the US president’s frequent talks about seizing Greenland that they participated in protests and even boycotted American goods in supermarkets.

As she announced the election on Thursday, Ms Frederiksen said in parliament: “This will be a crucial election for us, because in the next four years, we as Danes and as Europeans will really have to stand on our own two feet.”

“We must define our relationship with the US. We must arm ourselves to ensure peace on our continent. We must keep Europe together,” she added, referring to Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, which is now in its fifth year.

After Mr Trump backed down on his Greenland threats in January, the US, Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal.

Still, Ms Frederiksen made clear earlier this month that she remains wary about the Greenland issue. Asked at the Munich Security Conference whether the crisis had passed, she replied: “No, unfortunately not. I think the desire from the US president is exactly the same. He is very serious about this theme.”

Frederik Hjorth, an associate professor for political science at the University of Copenhagen, said: “The Greenland crisis has played a major part in the noticeable bump that the government parties have received over the last couple of months.”

While Mr Trump would likely not feature in a major way in the election campaign, “he will be sort of a background theme in the campaign because that speaks to the government message of the importance of having competent people in charge”.

Ms Frederiksen, a centre-left Social Democrat, has become known for her strict immigration policies, which are among the toughest in Europe.

In January, her government unveiled a legal reform allowing the deportation of foreigners who have been sentenced to at least one year of unconditional imprisonment for serious crimes.

She pitched such ideas years before other countries on the continent tried to outsource asylum request procedures to third countries or set up “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers outside the European Union.

Beyond that, the cost of living in Denmark will probably also become a prominent campaign topic, Prof Hjorth said.

A general election must be held at least every four years, but the prime minister can call one at any time. The last election was held on 1 November 2022 and resulted in a three-party coalition that crosses the left-right divide.

Ms Frederiksen has led Denmark since mid-2019. She currently heads a government with the Liberal Party of defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen and the centrist Moderate party of foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, a former prime minister. If she gets re-elected, it would be her third term.

Win £60k and better your home-buying story with Experian

Buying your first home is a big deal. One small step up the ladder is a giant leap into a new phase of life. On the other hand, you’ll never have done something remotely that expensive – and that’s scary.

Let’s face it, getting there isn’t easy. The average first-time buyer in the UK currently pays £311,034 for their first home. To help get a mortgage you need a deposit, a steady income and, crucially, a strong credit score.

To help you better your home-buying story, Experian is offering an incredible £60k cash prize to help one lucky buyer turn their dream home into a reality. Enter here to be in with a chance.*

For many people, times have been particularly tricky with money over the last few years. If bills have been hard to meet, your credit score might have taken a hit. This can make it harder to get a lender to give the thumbs up to a decent mortgage. A massive stumbling block to getting that first home.

But help is at hand. Experian is the money platform that helps would-be first-time buyers make the kind of smart money moves that’ll grow their score, and their chances of a mortgage they can afford.

They want everyone to have a better shot at getting that first-own-home feeling. So, they’re running a prize draw in February and March 2026, offering new customers the chance to win £60k – the equivalent of the average deposit for a first-time buyer in the UK.

The competition is live on the Experian website now and will run until 18th April. To be able to enter you need to sign up as a new customer of Experian during this period.

It’s a number generated by a credit reference agency like Experian, and it reflects your financial history over the last six years. This includes things like how reliable you’ve been at paying bills on time and meeting your monthly payments for loans and credit cards.

The score’s a handy snapshot of all of this. The higher your score, the more likely you are to get a mortgage. As your score gets better, so do your chances of seeing better interest rates – and saving money on interest can make a big difference to what you’re paying out every month. Over the lifetime of a mortgage, it could mean savings in the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

Whether or not you’re the lucky winner of the prize draw, there’s plenty you can do to help your score grow. Getting a free Experian account is the first step in taking control and getting on the path to owning your own place.

Understanding your credit report is really important. Whilst your credit score is a snapshot of where you’re at, your credit report is your financial CV. It shows things like the loans, credit cards and mobile phone contracts you have, and how well you’re paying them off. It highlights any court judgments or insolvencies, whether you’re on the electoral roll, and if you’ve made any recent applications for credit.

Ideally, you want to check your credit report about a year before you apply for the mortgage. This will let you see what lenders see when you apply – plus it gives you a little more time to get on top of any issues. There are some quick wins – like registering to vote – easy things that lenders love to see.

A little more challenging is reducing any debt you can: try to keep credit card balances at under 30 per cent of the limit. Lower balances help your score and show lenders you’re in control of your money. If you’ve got unused credit cards or store accounts you don’t need, consider closing them, especially if they come with fees. A quick note on that though – if you’ve held an account for years, this can help show long-term stability which lenders really like.

Conversely, if you don’t have much credit history then it can be tricky for lenders to get a sense of your reliability, so in that case it’s worth thinking about getting a credit card and spending responsibly on it. Pay off the balance off in full each month. That way you won’t be charged interest and it looks good to lenders.

It’s best not to make any credit applications in the six months before your mortgage application though, as this can be seen negatively by lenders. So if you are applying for a card, do it before that point.

There are lots of steps you can take to correct financial difficulties and get your credit score back on track. If you’ve had a tough time recently – an illness perhaps, or an unexpected job loss – you can add a Notice of Correction to your account, a short statement that explains what happened and gives context to lenders.

If you’re finding it tricky to make payments on time, for whatever reason, it’s important to speak up. Contact the lender you’re struggling to pay and let them know. There are free debt charities that help thousands of people every day that you could contact too. And it’s important to know, seeking this kind of guidance won’t impact your score.

All these steps will help get you mortgage-ready. The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to get your very own place sooner.

To find out more about your credit score and how to grow it head to Experian

UK (incl. C.I. & I.O.M), 18+, not existing Experian account holders only. Between 00:01 18/02/26 & 23:59 18/04/26, visit experian.co.uk/win, enter your email, then successfully create an Experian account by submitting details to enter. Account must be approved to enter. No purchase. Prize: 1 x £60,000. Internet, email & UK/CI/IOM bank account required. 1 entry per person. Full T&Cs & Prize details: experian.co.uk/win . Promoter: Experian Ltd, The Sir John Peace Building, Experian Way, NG2 Business Park, Nottingham NG80 1ZZ.

Labour MP with £50,000 in student debt calls on Starmer to reform loans system

A Labour MP who is among the millions of graduates saddled with soaring student debt has joined a growing chorus of senior figures within the party who are piling pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to reform the “absolutely broken” system.

Labour MP Chris Hinchliff said he had no prospect of paying “anything more than the interest” on his loan before he became an MP and is now in £50,000 worth of debt, £10,000 more than he owed at the time he graduated in 2015.

He is one of a number of Sir Keir’s own MPs calling on him to reform Britain’s student loan system, as millions of young workers on a Plan 2 loan face spiralling debt from financial agreements they deem to be “unfair”.

While the prime minister has pledged to make the system fairer, Labour MPs, including Karl Turner, urged the government to act faster and “hatch a plan, quick-sharp, to sort this sorry mess out”, while former education secretary Charles Clarke told The Independent the system needs “urgent” reform.

Speaking about his own experience on a Plan 2 student loan, Mr Hinchliff told The Independent: “I would’ve left university with about £36,000 of debt. Last time I looked, after a year and a bit of paying it down with an MP job, I had £50,000 in debt.”

He said it had “gone up and up every year” while he was working in his previous job in the charity sector, adding that graduates are effectively “paying an additional rate of income tax” for life.

He said constituents across the board have raised concerns about the issue, including parents who now feel they’ve “misadvised their children” about going to university and said: “I absolutely understand because I’ve been through that pain myself, and I agree about the need to reform this.”

The North East Hertfordshire MP has called on the government to look at cutting interest rates on such loans as an “immediate area where people feel it’s most egregiously unfair”, and consider whether they are using the correct measure of inflation.

“I encourage the government to look at reform in this parliament to make this system fairer,” he said.

“The whole system that the Conservatives and Lib Dems brought in is a massive failure and needs to be addressed from top to bottom.”

The chancellor has been characterised as a “loan shark” by campaigners, after she announced a freeze on the repayment threshold for three years, leading to some people having to pay a lot more back than they originally borrowed on the high-interest loans.

On Wednesday, Sir Keir told the Commons he would look at ways to make the loans system fairer, but Ms Reeves suggested any changes were unlikely to come at the spring statement next week.

But Labour MPs have urged the government to move faster, with Kingston upon Hull East MP Karl Turner telling The Independent that Sir Keir and Ms Reeves must “hatch a plan, quick-sharp, to sort this sorry mess out”.

He said: “The electorate expect instant happiness. Gone are the days when we could reasonably argue that this mess was made by the previous Tory and LibDem coalition government in 2013. Our Labour government must act now to address the gross unfairness of the student loans system that we inherited.”

Former education secretary Charles Clarke told The Independent: “I do think the system needs urgent reform. The system set up in 2011 had serious flaws at the time and they have been made steadily worse since then.”

Meanwhile, Labour MP Kim Johnson said “the cat is well and truly out of the bag” when it comes to the student loan system, and urged ministers to U-turn in the days to come.

She told The Independent: “There is an urgent need to look at the value for money of student loans – and Ministers could choose to announce a U-turn next week. They should. Because this system isn’t just broken; it is actively fuelling the injustice and inequality at the heart of our stagnating economy.”

Another Labour MP on a Plan 2 student loan, Rosie Wrighting, has said she now faces £90,000 worth of student loan.

“We were told education was the route to opportunity. Instead, many of us graduated into a system where our loans grow faster than our wages ever could made worse when the inflation caused by Liz Truss mini-Budget pushed interest rates up at a level no graduate salary could realistically keep up with,” she wrote on social media.

Consumer champion Martin Lewis has also urged the chancellor to reverse her decision on student loans.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, he said the changes would be struck down by the regulator if a commercial company tried to make them.

Kemi Badenoch and Mr Lewis met to discuss student loans on Wednesday afternoon, after a fiery exchange about the issue on the TV programme on Monday.

The government has previously said that it inherited the student loans system from the previous Tory government, and said threshold freezes have been introduced to “protect taxpayers and students now, alongside future generations of learners and workers”.

Two British men jailed for 20 years for smuggling cocaine into Bali

Two British men have been jailed for a combined 20 years after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Bali.

Kial Garth Robinson, 29, from Chichester, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and Piran Ezra Wilkinson, 48, was handed a nine-year sentence on Thursday.

Both have been ordered to pay a fine of approximately £45,000 or serve an additional 190 days in jail.

Robinson, a landscape gardener by profession, had been charged with multiple breaches of Indonesia’s drug laws, including drug trafficking, importation and possession.

He was arrested on 3 September 2025 at Bali International airport after customs officers found 1.3kg of the drug in his bag, according to prosecutors.

Both men told authorities that Robinson had been recruited into the scheme by a man named Santos, who ordered him to take the drugs from Barcelona to Bali. The pair had met the week before their arrest.

Robinson’s lawyer, Robert Khuana, said his client accepted the sentence and insisted that he had been “trapped in a syndicate scenario”. Wilkinson’s lawyer said his client also accepted the sentence and that the event would be a lesson for him going forward.

In December last year, a video showed Robinson being brought into Denpasar District Court in orange prison overalls, where he was seen making a series of hand gestures, including a thumbs up and a peace sign.

“Give them a smile,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “Give them a thumbs up.”

Prosecutors said ahead of the trial: “The defendant had been given a further $3,000 (£2,250) on 1 September 2025 to pay for flight tickets from Barcelona to Bali and from Bali to Thailand, where the defendant planned to return a week later.

“This was the first time the defendant had ever carried or brought narcotics into Indonesia. The defendant had also never carried or brought narcotics into any other country before.”

They added: “There was also a budget to rent a room at Anginsepoi Villa, and buy clothing, food and beverages, and other necessities.”

Drug trafficking is a serious offence in Indonesia, with the death penalty being the most severe punishment applied to those found guilty.

Bali uses the firing squad for its capital punishment offences, but has not implemented the penalty since 2016, when four men were executed for drug trafficking.