Tories accuse Starmer of not revealing all his Mandelson messages
Good morning. Keir Starmer is chairing cabinet today as Labour MPs consider the implications of the Peter Mandelson files' coverage. Regarding revelations about Mandelson himself, the impact appears less severe than many MPs anticipated; a Politico official described the mood last night as being at the “top end” of expectations. Our main story about the data release is by Henry Dyer and Pippa Crear.
Further coverage will follow throughout the day.
The Mandelson documents were released only due to a humble address tabled by the Conservative party. Kemi Badenoch initiated this move partly because she suspected Starmer was concealing the full extent of his knowledge about Mandelson’s links with Jeffrey Epstein when appointing him ambassador. The documents published yesterday did not reveal new evidence supporting this claim, although some Epstein-related material was withheld due to an ongoing police investigation. However, the unpredictability of such a fishing expedition yielded a significant discovery yesterday: Pat McFadden joking about how Labour MPs were always asking . This revelation is prominently featured in many right-wing newspapers today and could be as damaging to the party as Liam Byrne’s infamous “no money left” remark—a private, flippant comment that was ruthlessly exploited by the Tories, albeit unfairly.
The Conservatives might consider this a “job well done.” Yet Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, gave interviews this morning, telling the Today programme that he believed Starmer had not disclosed all his Mandelson messages.
“There’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.
”
When asked if he was claiming that messages from the prime minister had been withheld, Burghart responded:
“I suspect that, if they haven’t been handed over, they’ve been deleted.”
He noted that when Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, was asked to assure that Starmer had not deleted any messages from Mandelson, Jones was unable to provide such assurance. Burghart continued:
“It 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.”
Agenda for the day
9.30am: Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, returns to the high court in Edinburgh where, following his guilty plea on embezzlement charges, a “narrative hearing” will set out an agreed account of his crimes.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, will take questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street will hold a lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, will deliver a speech at the SXSW event, calling for a ban on social media use for under-16s.
After 12.30pm: Sarah Jones, the policing minister, is scheduled to give a statement to MPs regarding the police response.
Lunchtime: Andy Burnham will conduct a campaign visit in Makerfield.
1.30pm: Rhun ap Iorwerth will take questions as first minister for the first time in the Senedd.
2.30pm: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, will take questions at Holyrood for the first time on a Tuesday, under a new plan to hold FMQs twice weekly instead of once.
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Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, has defended Pat McFadden regarding his comment revealed in the Mandelson files about Labour MPs always asking .
In an interview with Times Radio, Thomas-Symonds described McFadden as a “diligent, committed minister” whose views on social security and welfare “are very well known and consistent.”
“Pat’s view has always been that it is not about benefits, that is not where the debate should be. The debate should be about opportunity, and indeed that is what he has been working on.”
In response to whether he thought the benefits bill was too high, Thomas-Symonds said:
“It depends which part of the budget we’re talking about, because if we’re talking about pensions, then I’m very proud that it’s this government that is putting those increases in the state pension, the amount it’s going up.”
Regarding the parts of the bill he would call economic and social failures, where the goal is to provide opportunity, he stated:
“I think that is obviously a different part of the bill.”
When asked if he thought those parts of the welfare bill were too high, he replied:
“Yes. Of course.
The point is, though, the motivation for changing that is not somehow salami-slicing financial budgets. The motivation for changing that is because we want to give people opportunity, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Peter Murrell court appearance
Peter Murrell has arrived at court for a further hearing following his admission that he embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP, according to the Press Association. PA reports:
“Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, was brought to the high court in Edinburgh in a white prison van.
He sat in the back wearing a dark suit with no tie.
Judge Lord Young will hear a prosecution narrative on Tuesday, where the facts of the case will be set out.”
UK government has failed Palestinian people, says senior Labour MP
The UK government has let the Palestinian people down and failed to make it economically impossible for Israel to continue acting with impunity in the West Bank and Gaza, stated the Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee, as reported by Patrick Wintour.
