UK Officials Seek Mandelson Personal Phone Messages in Ambassador Appointment Review

Lord Mandelson is to be asked to hand over messages from his personal phone as part of the disclosure of documents related to his appointment as UK ambassador to the US. Officials had so far only had access to the peer's work phone, leaving a significant gap in the record at the centre of Britain's most politically combustible parliamentary inquiry in years.

Lawmakers in February ordered Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government to release tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents detailing how Mandelson was vetted for the role and appointed in late 2024. The BBC was separately told the total number of government documents related to the appointment could be close to 100,000, a figure that alarmed former No.10 communications director James Lyons. "I don't think anyone can understate the gravity of the situation," Lyons told BBC Newsnight.

At the centre of the records gap is Morgan McSweeney's stolen government phone. Scotland Yard took the unusual step of releasing the 999 call transcript from October 20 as it deflected criticism over how it handled the theft. The transcript showed McSweeney failed to inform the call handler that he worked for Downing Street, though he did say the stolen device was a "government phone." His employment "was not information provided to us and could not reasonably have shaped our decision making," police said in a statement.

The missing device's contents could be extensive. The phone was thought to contain hundreds of messages exchanged with Lord Mandelson both before his appointment and for months afterward, and Parliament demanded release of all of McSweeney's emails and WhatsApps covering Mandelson's appointment and seven-month tenure. Downing Street refused to say whether any of the messages had been recovered or whether they could be retrieved from Lord Mandelson's phone. Concerns were raised over the fact that the phone of the prime minister's then-top aide was not backed up, leading to the loss of the correspondence.

McSweeney quit Downing Street last month, saying he took "full responsibility" for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson to Washington. Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the loss of messages as a "cock-up rather than conspiracy," while Downing Street was keen to emphasise the phone theft happened "months before" MPs compelled the government to release the correspondence.

The BBC also reported that police were blocking the release of one exchange between the prime minister and Lord Mandelson, without specifying the legal basis. Some material is expected to be withheld either because it relates to a police investigation into allegations of misconduct in public office, or because Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee believes it could jeopardise national security or diplomatic relations.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating Mandelson over allegations he leaked sensitive documents to Epstein when he was a government minister, including during the 2008 financial crash. Starmer sacked Mandelson as his ambassador to Washington in September 2025 when new details emerged showing the extent of his friendship with Epstein. Lord Mandelson sought a £500,000 payout after he was sacked, but ultimately agreed to £75,000.

Documents already released revealed how deep the internal reservations ran before Mandelson ever reached Washington. A fact-finding call on September 12, 2025, showed National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell found the appointment process "weirdly rushed" and had raised concerns about Mandelson with McSweeney, who said the issues had been "addressed." The released emails also showed Mandelson was appointed as Washington ambassador before completing the vetting process, receiving high-tier briefings prior to passing security clearance.

A No.10 internal email sent on February 4, shortly after the government promised to release the appointment files, showed Ailsa Terry, a No.10 private secretary for foreign affairs, asking an HR official for a daily welfare check on Mandelson: "It would also be great to know that there has been a welfare check and to do one each day if that's OK for a while."

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch demanded full accountability. "There are too many unanswered questions surrounding the disappearance of Morgan McSweeney's phone," she said. "It would be outrageous if the messages between Mandelson and the Prime Minister's former Chief of Staff, the man Keir Starmer delegated the appointment to, were not included in that release." Labour backbencher Simon Opher went further, saying Starmer "needs to change his advisers in Number 10," adding that politicians "really rely on people to cover our backs, our advisers, and they patently haven't done that."

Lord Mandelson is understood to be asked to hand over all documents within scope of the parliamentary motion, which would include messages with ministers and McSweeney dating back to summer 2024. The Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between McSweeney and Lord Mandelson, but how complete that record is, and what remains on Mandelson's personal device, has yet to be confirmed publicly.