Keir Starmer is chairing a cabinet meeting as Labour discusses Peter Mandelson's files. The Conservative party accuses Starmer of not fully disclosing his communications with Mandelson, particularly regarding Epstein connections.
Key points
Keir Starmer chairs cabinet meeting on Mandelson files
Conservatives accuse Starmer of withholding messages
Mandelson documents released due to Conservative initiative
No new evidence found in released documents
Pat McFadden's remark could harm Labour's image
Mentioned in this story
Keir StarmerPeter MandelsonKemi BadenochPat McFaddenJeffrey EpsteinConservative partyLabour party
Good morning. Keir Starmer is chairing cabinet today as Labour MPs mull over the coverage of the Peter Mandelson files. In terms of revelations relating to Mandelson himself, the impact is probably not as bad as many MPs feared; Politico quotes one official as saying the mood last night was at the “top end” of expectations. Here is our main story about the data release, by Henry Dyer and Pippa Crear.
There will be more coverage today.
The Mandelson documents were only released because of a humble address tabled by the Conservative party. Kemi Badenoch launched this move in part because she suspected Starmer was covering up the full extent of what he knew about Mandelson’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him ambassador. The documents published yesterday did not provide any new evidence to back up this assertion, although some material relating to Epstein was held back because of the police investigation. But the joy of a fishing expedition is that you never quite now what you will catch, and the Tories struck gold yesterday with the revelation about Pat McFadden joking about how Labour MPs were always asking “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”. Most of the rightwing papers are splashing on this today, and it has the potential to be as damaging to the party as Liam Byrne’s famous “no money left” (another flippant remark, intended to be private, that was exploited ruthlessly, but unfairly, by the Tories).
The Conservatives could sit back and take the view ‘job well done’. But Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, was giving interviews this morning and he told the Today programme that he thought Starmer had not revealed all his Mandelson messages.
Burghart said:
double quotation markThere’s a lot of stuff that’s missing. Anybody who’s looked at these 1,500 pages will see acres and acres of white space, these constellations of asterisks, huge amounts of redactions.
Now, some of that is fine because it’s national security issues, our relationship with the Americans.
But it’s also clear there’s a lot of material that wasn’t published. And we know that because all ministers were asked to hand over their WhatsApp messages between them and Peter Mandelson and lots and lots of ministers, some very senior people, have handed over a nil return.
There are almost no exchanges between the prime minister and Peter Mandelson. There are no exchanges between people like Peter Kyle, who were very close allies of Peter Mandelson. And so it’s clear that stuff has been deleted or has gone missing.
Q&A
What did the Conservative party accuse Keir Starmer of regarding Mandelson?
The Conservative party accused Keir Starmer of not revealing all his messages related to Peter Mandelson, particularly concerning his connections with Jeffrey Epstein.
What was the impact of the released Mandelson documents?
The released documents did not provide new evidence against Starmer, but they included a controversial remark from Labour MP Pat McFadden that could be damaging to the party.
Who is Kemi Badenoch and what role did she play in the Mandelson document release?
Kemi Badenoch is a Conservative MP who initiated the release of the Mandelson documents through a humble address, suspecting Starmer was hiding information about Mandelson's ties to Epstein.
How did the Labour party react to the Mandelson document revelations?
Labour MPs were reportedly in a mood of cautious optimism, as the impact of the revelations was not as severe as they had feared.
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When asked if he was claiming that messages from the PM had been held back, Burghart replied: “I suspect that, if they haven’t been handed over, they’ve been deleted.”
He pointed out that, in the Commons yesterday, when Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, was asked to give an assurance that Starmer had not deleted any messages from Mandelson, Jones was unable to give that assurance. Burghart went on:
double quotation markIt beggars belief that there were so few exchanges between Mandelson and the prime minister. There’s almost nothing in the record.
So either this stuff is being deliberately withheld or it’s been deleted.
But in answer to your question, yes, it’s obvious that there is still stuff that’s missing. Whether we ever see it or not, I don’t know.
9.30am: Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, is back at the high court in Edinburgh where, following his guilty plea on embezzlement charges, there will be a “narrative hearing” setting out an agreed accounts of his crimes.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is giving a speech at the SXSW event where he will call for a ban on social media for under-16s.
After 12.30pm: Sarah Jones, the policing minister, is due to give a statement to MPs about the murder of Henry Nowak, and the police response to it.
Lunchtime: Andy Burnham is doing a campaign visit in Makerfield.
1.30pm: Rhun ap Iorwerth takes questions as first minister for the first time in the Senedd.
2.30pm: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, takes questions at Holyrood for the first time on a Tuesday, under a new plan to hold FMQs twice a week, not just once a week.
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