Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has weighed in amid controversy surrounding Peter Mandelson scandal.
Mandelson stepped down from the House of Lords after emails revealed a connection between him and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Some of the emails reportedly contained confidential UK government communications which further raises concerns.
Brown said he believes Mandelson "betrayed" his country by leaking the information," as per BBC.
He said Mandelson's communications with Epstein "meant Britain was at risk because of that, the currency was at risk, some of the trading that would happen would be speculative as a result of that and there's no doubt that huge commercial damage could have been done and perhaps was done."
Brown said he felt "shocked, sad, angry, betrayed, let down" by the messages.
He expressed support for Sir Keir Starmer and described him as an honest and principled man who had been "betrayed" by Mandelson.
Brown said that Starmer is the right leader to fix the situation and restore the integrity to the system.
"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," Brown added.
Brown's comments came as police wrapped up searches of two properties connected to Mandelson as part of a investigation into alleged misconduct in public office.
