LONDON — A vast cache of messages between ministers and Britain’s sacked U.S. Ambassador Peter Mandelson is unlikely to be published until at least mid-April — creating a new moment of peril for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his top team.
Government officials had hoped to publish a new batch of disclosures relating to Mandelson before the House of Commons’ Easter recess begins March 26, said two people with knowledge of the discussions who were granted anonymity to speak frankly.
However, this is no longer likely to happen.
One key reason, said three people with knowledge of the discussions (including one of those noted above), is that Downing Street wants to publish the vast majority of outstanding messages that MPs ordered for disclosure on Feb. 4 in one single batch, rather than in dribs and drabs.
Retrieval has also been ongoing, with some of the raw messages with Mandelson — specifically from WhatsApp groups — only extracted from people’s phones in recent days, a fifth person with knowledge of the process said.
The wait could add to the political difficulties facing Starmer, with headlines about Mandelson dragging out even longer.
The post-Easter timing raises the prospect that private remarks by Starmer’s own ministers will become public shortly before elections on May 7, which some MPs believe could determine his future as PM.
‘Reputational risk’
The release of U.K. government communications, which follows the disclosure of millions of documents related to the U.S. investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was set in motion after Labour MPs backed a call by the opposition Conservative Party to release several thousand pages of documents related to Mandelson and his appointment.
Mandelson was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last September over his past friendship with Epstein, but further revelations from the U.S. prompted a police investigation into his conduct, leading to his arrest in February.
He has not been charged, and his lawyers have said he is cooperating with the investigation. Mandelson’s overriding priority is to clear his name, they added, having previously apologized “unequivocally” for his association with Epstein and “to the women and girls that suffered.”
Ministers published an initial tranche of documents on March 11 relating directly to Mandelson’s appointment as U.S. ambassador. The files showed that Starmer had been warned that Mandelson’s Epstein links represented a “reputational risk,” and that the PM’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell had considered the appointment “weirdly rushed.”
Still awaiting publication are “electronic communications” — including WhatsApp messages and emails — between Mandelson and ministers, officials and special advisers during his time as ambassador.
Files are being shared with parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which is agreeing redactions of any elements that would compromise national security.
Any publication is expected to happen while parliament is sitting. The Commons will be in recess between March 26 and April 13.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, said on March 11 that he hoped the second tranche would be released “in the coming weeks.”
However, the three people referenced above said No. 10 also wants to release as many of the remaining files as possible in one go. That would mean releasing the vast majority of the remaining files, save for a small number that the Metropolitan Police has asked the government to hold back.
The force is investigating whether Mandelson committed misconduct in public office after a 2009 email exchange, released in the Epstein files, appeared to show him forwarding the details of government financial discussions to Epstein. He has denied wrongdoing.
The emails and WhatsApp messages to be released could include the private opinions of Mandelson or his confidants on the political situation in Britain or on U.S. President Donald Trump.
Previous messages between Mandelson and Wes Streeting, released proactively by the health secretary, showed Streeting complaining that the U.K. government had “no growth strategy at all.”
Starmer’s government set to wrestle with Mandelson files release until after Easter
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