Andy Burnham is “looking into” the possibility of holding a public inquiry into the UK activities of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to victims minister Alex Davies-Jones.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Davies-Jones said that the prime minister had agreed to meet Epstein’s victims.
She said the government is also reviewing whether the alleged actions of former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed could also be part of an inquiry.
Davies-Jones resigned from former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government in May, later accusing his government of failing to listen to Epstein’s survivors. She was reappointed as victims minister when Burnham took office.
Asked whether an inquiry was now possible, Davies-Jones said: “We are looking at this, we are reviewing what is possible. Again, same with Harrods survivors.”
She added: “I have been assured that the prime minister is taking this very seriously.
“He will meet with those victims and he is looking at what is possible, now he has access to all of the information as prime minister to see what action we can take.”
After resigning in May, Davies-Jones told the Commons in June that people whose lives were devastated by Epstein’s abuse have too often been reduced to a footnote.
Asked what assurances or guarantees she had asked from Burnham in relation to the survivors when he re-appointed her to government, the minister said: “I did have those discussions with the prime minister before he became the prime minister.”
“He agreed to meet with the Epstein victims,” she continued, adding that Burnham “has assured me that he will meet them now he’s prime minister and will work with us to look at systemic change across the system for all victims.”
BBC Newsnight understands that as Burnham was finalising plans to become prime minister, he was sent a document by leading Labour campaigners on Violence Against Women and Girls.
It contained a key suggestion: to hold a full public inquiry into the UK activities of Epstein, the alleged behaviour of the late Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed and into allegations in a BBC Panorama and Times investigation that West Ham co-owner David Sullivan preyed on women.
David Sullivan has described the claims as false. He said he was “absolutely not the person the media has decided to paint me as”.
The document called for an “impunity” inquiry to ask how powerful men were able to carry out the alleged behaviour.
On Epstein, the document calls for a focus on UK borders, asking how he was able to fly in and out of UK military bases on his private jet, often with allegedly trafficked women. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown highlighted this issue in February.
Davies-Jones is understood to be familiar with the Labour document.
Anouska di Georgiou, an Epstein survivor, told BBC Newsnight: “I welcome reports that Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering public inquiries into the Epstein and Maxwell, Harrods/Mohamed Al-Fayed, and David Sullivan cases.”
“Survivors have heard promises before, so what matters now is action, not headlines.”
