Starmer leadership crisis is 'serious' - Brown

In the UK, former Labour Party leader Gordon Brown has said that the situation facing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "serious" - amid the growing political scandal over Peter Mandelson.

Police are continuing to investigate Mr Mandelson for alleged misconduct in public office, over his alleged communications, while a member of the cabinet, with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

However, Mr Brown, who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010, backed Mr Starmer as a "man of integrity" who had been "betrayed" by Mr Mandelson.

The Metropolitan Police said its investigation into Mr Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office would "take some time" after officers finished searching his homes in London and Wiltshire.

Read more: Starmer's predictable scandal over Mandelson appointment

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart said: "I can confirm that officers from the Met's central specialist crime team have carried out searches at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area, and another in the Camden area.

"The searches were related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man.

"He has not been arrested and inquiries are ongoing. This will be a complex investigation requiring a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.

"It will take some time to do this work comprehensively and we will not be providing a running commentary."

Scotland Yard launched its investigation following allegations that Mr Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the paedophile financier while he was business secretary in Mr Brown’s government during the financial crisis.

Mr Brown said he regretted giving Mr Mandelson his peerage and bringing him back into the government in 2008, adding that he felt "shocked, sad, angry betrayed, let down" when he saw the Epstein messages released by the US Department of Justice.

Mr Starmer's position is in jeopardy because of his decision to appoint Mr Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite knowing his friendship with disgraced financier Epstein continued after his conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

Asked what his message was to the Labour Party about Mr Starmer's future, Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "This is obviously serious. I mean, there’s always speculation. It happened to me, it happened to Tony Blair.

"It happens to everybody about how their future should be gauged.

"But this is serious, and the task is very clear. The task is we’ve got to clean up the system, a total clean-up of the system, an end to the corruption and unethical behaviour.

"And if we don’t do it, we’ll pay a heavy price."

Asked if Mr Starmer was the right man to take the country forward, he said: "I can look in his eyes and I can see that he is a man of integrity. He wants to do the right things.

"Perhaps he’s been too slow to do the right things, but he must do the right things now, and let’s judge what he does, on what happens in the next few months when he tries to, and I believe (he) will try, to clean up the system."

Clintons call for their Epstein testimony to be public

Elsewhere, former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are calling for their congressional testimony on ties to Epstein to be held publicly, in a bid to prevent Republicans from politicising the issue.

Both Clintons had been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House Oversight Committee, which is probing the deceased financier's connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

Democrats say the probe is being weaponised to attack political opponents of President Donald Trump, himself a longtime Epstein associate who has not been called to testify, rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

House Republicans had previously threatened a contempt vote if the Democratic power couple did not show up to testify, which they have since agreed to do.

But holding the deposition behind closed doors, Bill Clinton said, would be akin to being tried at a "kangaroo court".

"Let's stop the games & do this the right way: in a public hearing," the former Democratic president said on X.

Read more: Clintons to testify before US House Epstein investigation

Ms Clinton, former US secretary of state, said the couple had already told the Republican-led Oversight Committee "what we know".

"If you want this fight ... let's have it in public," she said.

Last week, the US Justice Department released the latest cache of Epstein files - more than three million documents, photos and videos related to its investigation into Epstein, who died from what was determined to be suicide while in custody in 2019.

Mr Clinton features regularly in the files, but no evidence has come to light implicating either Clinton in criminal activity.

The former president has acknowledged flying on Epstein's plane in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein's private island.

Hillary Clinton, who ran against Mr Trump for president in 2016, said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane and never visited his island.

Veteran French politician loses culture post over Epstein links

Meanwhile, veteran French politician Jack Lang, a former minister, was forced out of a key cultural post today as pressure grew on him over revelations in the latest release of the Epstein files.

He offered to resign in a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who told reporters he planned to launch the process to name an interim president for the IMA.

But Mr Lang continued to insist he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Mr Lang, who has headed the Arab World Institute (IMA) since 2013, is the most high-profile public figure in France caught up in the latest release of private messages from the convicted sex offender.

"I offer to submit my resignation" at the next board meeting, the 86-year-old wrote in the letter, seen by AFP.

As recently as Wednesday, he had ruled out stepping down from his post over the affair.

Additional reporting AFP