House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle told MPs that he had shared the information with police “in good faith”. Photograph: PA/House of CommonsThe Metropolitan Police Service in London has apologised to the House of Commons speaker for giving Peter Mandelson’s lawyers information pointing to him as the source of a claim that the former UK ambassador planned to flee the country. An official custody document shared with Mandelson’s lawyers is understood to have referred to the Lord speaker as the source of the information – a mistaken reference to Hoyle, the Commons speaker. His lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, have written to the Metropolitan police asking upon what evidence they based the arrest. The Commons speaker visited the British Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean, last week after being invited to mark the 75th anniversary of the territory’s assembly.

Source: The Irish Times February 25, 2026 21:15 UTC