Westminster is set to push for greater scrutiny of the Royal Family.
MPs will return to Parliament today following a week-long recess with a clamour for answers over the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal.
The former prince is under investigation for allegedly leaking confidential information to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and other wealthy contacts while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
As the Commons sits today for the first time since his arrest, MPs across parties are preparing to press for answers over how he was able to represent the nation for a decade with seemingly minimal oversight.
Despite concerns over his questionable friendships, Andrew was allowed to travel the world on the public purse virtually unfettered from 2001 to 2011.
His downfall has triggered renewed calls for greater transparency around the Royal Family, which remains largely exempt from Freedom of Information requests and wider scrutiny by Parliament.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday refused to rule out a judge-led inquiry into the former duke.
‘Our position is that we should keep all of these options open, but we need the police investigation to carry on, so nothing will happen while this police investigation is underway,’ she told GB News. ‘We do believe all options should be open for consideration. This is extremely serious.’
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday refused to rule out a judge-led inquiry into the former duke
Under long-established conventions set out in the Erskine May – the parliamentary rulebook – MPs have traditionally been discouraged from casting reflections on the monarchy.
The Liberal Democrats are considering using an opposition day debate tomorrow to force a Commons vote seeking to overhaul the rules.
Labour-types are also making similar noises and a former Tory minister this weekend called for the public to be assured that Parliament is doing its utmost.
Critics say the arcane rules have fostered a culture of deference which shielded Andrew from scrutiny when trade envoy.
‘People are increasingly feeling that there’s one rule for those in power and another for everyone else,’ said Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson, Lisa Smart MP.
‘This crisis must trigger a top-to-bottom clean-up operation of public life,’ she added.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell also called for conventions to be cast aside. ‘We cannot allow privilege to prevent scrutiny,’ she said.
Former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker agreed that parliamentary rules need to be ‘loosened’ to allow for proper debate in the Commons.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was allowed to travel the world on the public purse virtually unfettered from 2001 to 2011
King Charles, who has given the police his full support, had tried to contain the issues around his brother by stripping Andrew of his titles and evicting him from Royal Lodge, in Windsor
He added: ‘The Royal Family whether you’re a monarchist or a republican, is part of the public sector. They perform public duties and are paid with public money, therefore they are no different to civil service, a local council or the NHS and they shouldn’t be exempt as they have effectively become.’
The former MP, who penned Royal Mint, National Debt, on the monarchy’s finances, added: ‘Andrew has opened the flood gates; people are now looking at a whole range of royal matters’.
King Charles, who has given the police his full support, had tried to contain the issues around his brother by stripping Andrew of his titles and evicting him from Royal Lodge, in Windsor. But the monarch is now facing pressure to account for what the household knew about Andrew’s conduct.
The Mail on Sunday revealed that the King was warned that the family name was being ‘abused’ by Andrew’s contacts.
In a bombshell email, a whistleblower told the Palace as long ago as 2019, when Charles was still Prince of Wales and his mother was on the throne, that Andrew had secret financial links to controversial millionaire financier David Rowland, who was exploiting his royal links.
Ms Smart said full transparency needed to start with Andrew testifying to a parliamentary committee once the police inquiry concludes. She also called for a ‘full statutory inquiry’ to find out what allowed ‘such generational levels of corruption to fester’.
MPs are expected to raise urgent questions this afternoon about removing Andrew from the line of succession, as well as call for the King to release all communications linked to Epstein.
Any independent inquiry would be designed to establish the facts of Andrew’s links with Epstein, as well as the wider issues or failures in his position as trade envoy.
The former security minister Tom Tugendhat, said the disgraced royal and Labour peer Peter Mandelson, who is accused of leaking information to Epstein while business secretary, should also face a parliamentary treason investigation. ‘Parliament must send a clear message – Britain will defend itself from every threat, even if it comes from the very top,’ the Tory MP told The Sun.
The business and trade committee, which is due to discuss its options tomorrow, is considering launching a parliamentary probe into the former prince.
