What was missing from the Mandelson files?
Peter Mandelson taking his dog for a walk near his home in London. File picture
More than 1,000 pages of documents were released on Monday relating to Peter Mandelson’s posting as UK ambassador to Washington and the process that saw him appointed.
But there were some notable omissions.
Some documents were withheld to avoid prejudicing a police investigation into Mandelson. The government intends to publish them once that is complete.
Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones told MPs they include questions put to Mandelson by Cork man Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s then chief of staff, during the vetting process.
There were also redactions agreed on national security grounds — which were agreed with parliament’s intelligence and security committee — as well as redactions of email addresses and phone numbers, the identities of junior civil servants, legally privileged information, and third-party data where not relevant to the motion.
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Neither UK politicians’ names nor references to Mandelson’s company Global Counsel were redacted except to “protect the privacy of individuals who are not public figures”.
References to the companies Palantir and Anduril have only been redacted with the agreement of the intelligence and security committee.
There are a series of WhatsApp exchanges with ministers in the files, but it is not a complete record.
Some messages between ministers and Mandelson “may not have been backed up” because of disappearing messages or a change in devices, Jones said.
Mandelson also apparently “declined to comply” with a request to hand over his personal phone and allow the government to publish WhatsApp messages and other information related to his appointment.
Jones said the government could not compel him to do so as it does not have those powers when it comes to “third parties outside of our employment”.
However, a future court case could see those messages disclosed if prosecutors put one forward, he said.
The theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone means he did not provide his WhatsApps, however the disclosure does include a page of group messages provided by McSweeney.
Cabinet minister Nick Thomas-Symonds was unable to provide WhatsApps after his phone was also snatched last year.
The EU relations minister’s phone was robbed on October 15 last year, and he reported it to police the same evening.
His WhatsApp exchanges with Mandelson from 2024, which were on his personal phone, were lost when it was stolen.
However, he explained the messages he could recall, which are understood to all have been before Mandelson was appointed UK ambassador to the US.
The two met in January 2025 for a meeting, details of which are in the documents released in the form of official minutes, which say they discussed next steps for the planned EU reset.
An ally of Thomas-Symonds said: “Nick complied fully with the humble address, sharing all details of the messages he could recall, which were all prior to Mandelson taking up post.
“It is right that transparency is the only remedy.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We were called on Wednesday, October 15 at around 23:25 hrs, with a man reporting his phone had been stolen by three people on bikes. The incident took place around half an hour earlier on Marsham Street, Westminster.
“Officers made initial inquiries, but the case was closed after no suspects could be identified.”
Labour MP Emily Thornberry, who chairs the foreign affairs committee, said she had expected to see detail of “mitigations” put in place after Mandelson was appointed despite a vetting recommendation that he not be.
She told LBC: “Developed vetting says don’t appoint him.
“And the Foreign Office says, ‘Well, we’re going to, because we’re somehow or other going to put these mitigations in place’.
“I want to know what those are and I look at the papers — and there’s nothing there.
“So, I asked the minister today, either are they not there or do the police have them? And I’m not getting an answer.”
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