No10 said Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘fully supports’ the King’s decision to strip Prince Andrew of his titles – saying the Government’s thoughts are with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘despicable crimes’
Prince Andrew: King Charles to formally remove titles and honours
Keir Starmer “fully supports” the decision to strip Prince Andrew of his titles, No10 has said.
A Downing Street spokesman told reporters that the Government’s thoughts are with the family of Virginia Giuffre and all victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s “despicable crimes”. In a bombshell announcement Buckingham Palace said Andrew has agreed to leave Royal Lodge as his links to the paedophile financier continue to cause controversy. He will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
The No10 spokesman said: “We fully support the decision taken yesterday by the Palace. Our hearts go out to the family of Virginia Giuffre and all the victims who suffered from Jeffrey Epstein’s despicable crimes.
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“We echo the statement yesterday and our thoughts and utmost sympathies have been will remain with the victims and survivors of any and all forms in abuse.”
Earlier Trade Minister Sir Chris said there had clearly been an “abusive position” around the disgraced Royal, and said most of the public have wanted his titles removed for years. He also suggested Andrew should go to the US and answer questions about his links to Epstein.
Sir Chris told Times Radio: “You could have been reading many of these stories for more than a decade now, the accounts of Virginia Giuffre and many, many others to know, and then to see the changing accounts that Andrew has come up with of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, to realise that there has been an abusive position here, an abuse of trust.
“And I mean, I know he claims he’s innocent, but the honest truth is that an awful lot of us, I think the vast majority of your listeners have been thinking for a very long time that he doesn’t deserve any of these titles and that they should be stripped from him. ”
The Government minister said the allegations from sex trafficking victim Virginia Guiffre made it “very, very clear” that he abused his position of trust and “thought he was above the law, so as to gain sexual favours from somebody who was underage”. Ms Giuffre tragically took her own life earlier this year.
Sir Chris said he had only met Andrew once. He recounted: “He came to the Rhondda more than a decade ago. The Queen came several times actually to the Rhondda, and s he always arrived in a car. He insisted arriving in a helicopter. ”
He went on to tell BBC Breakfast that Andrew – who he said is now “an ordinary member of the public” – should go to the US to answer questions if asked. He said: “I think that just as with any ordinary member of the public, if there were requests from another jurisdiction of this kind, I would expect any decently-minded person to comply with that request.
“So I feel exactly there same in this situation.” He added: “What I’m basically saying is that I think that if Andrew is asked to do something by a Senate committee, then I would have thought that he would want to comply.”
It is understood that although Andrew denies the accusations, Buckingham Palace considers that there have been “serious lapses of judgment”. In a statement, the Palace said: “Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence. Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.”
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