Lord Mandelson is under investigation by Kensington and Chelsea council after being caught urinating in the street last week. The disgraced former US ambassador was snapped in the moment of impropriety after a late-night visit to ex Chancellor George Osborne’s mansion in Notting Hill.
The moment came at around 11pm, on part of a wall belonging to Reed Recruitment’s James Reed. Mr Reed fumed: “I’m surprised that whichever of my neighbours he happened to be visiting didn’t offer him a toilet. It doesn’t seem very diplomatic.”
A spokesman for the council confirmed he’s under investigation (Image: Getty)
The Royal London borough council has now confirmed it is investigating the damning leak, with a spokesman saying it was “unacceptable”.
Johnny Thalassites, the council’s lead on the environment, said: “We are aware of images appearing to show a prominent politician caught short on one of our streets and are investigating whether an offence has been committed.
“While we appreciate that nature can call at the most inconvenient moments, we are proud of our borough’s clean streets and amazing spaces and it is unacceptable for anyone to treat them as a urinal.”
Public urination is an offence under the Public Order Act 1986, and could be met meet with a fixed penalty notice of £90 provided it caused alarm or distress.
However a number of councils view public urination as ‘littering’, and could therefore be eligible for a much higher fine of £2,500 under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990.
A tenant of a nearby flat blasted: “We have to put up with this sort of revolting behaviour during the Notting Hill Carnival.
Lord Mandelson had been visiting George Osborne (Image: Getty)
“It’s a shame to see that people still feel entitled to urinate in the street here three months later, and quite outrageous that the person responsible should be a peer of the realm.”
Lord Mandelson later said: “I can only offer my profuse apologies. I was stood up by two Uber drivers and kept waiting in the street for half an hour and was bursting.
“There is no disguising my embarrassment.”
Lord Mandelson was sacked as Washington ambassador in September after new emails revealed the top Labour grandee emailed notorious peadofile Jeffrey Epstein following his first conviction to argue his incarceration had been wrongful.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the Lord Mandelson scandal showed that Sir Keir had failed “yet another key test of leadership”.
“He gave his full backing to a man unfit for office. This matters to you because the Prime Minister has been distracted from the serious national security and economic challenges this country is facing.
“This is a weak Prime Minister, who doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing at the right time.”
